HB 334 - TUITION WAIVER FOR POLICE WIDOW/CHILD REPRESENTATIVE KELLY came forward, saying he had already presented his bill and would defer to the teleconference testimony. CHAIRMAN GREEN asked the sponsor if he originally chose a broad definition of police officer or if the definition had been broadened in the process. REPRESENTATIVE KELLY replied it had been broadened either in the finance committee or on the floor. CHAIRMAN GREEN said she was pondering the inclusion of a U.S. Marshall. REPRESENTATIVE KELLY responded that his intent was to include them. SENATOR MILLER asked then why only one type of federal agent would be covered and REPRESENTATIVE KELLY said it was his understanding that the amendment adopted did cover FBI agents and border patrol agents as well. CHAIRMAN GREEN asked if the sponsor had an estimate of the number of people the bill would currently cover and REPRESENTATIVE KELLY estimated that number to be 800 police and 4,000 firefighters. MS. R.J. Nelson, Fire Chief of the Nenana Volunteer EMS Department testified via teleconference from Nenana. She mentioned she had a personal interest in the bill as she has family and friends who are police officers and her husband is a firefighter. She urged the inclusion of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), which she called the third factor in public safety. EMT's play a major role in public safety and respond with police and firefighters to all different types of emergency situations. She said generally the triad of police, fire and EMS responders are at the scene of vehicle accidents and proposed that this bill would cover only two of these three responders in the case that they were all killed in the course of responding to an accident. MS. Nelson mentioned that on occasion only EMT's respond to certain situations. She concluded that she supported the bill, but urged its amendment to include EMS providers or the introduction of another bill offering them the same benefits. MR. MELVIN VOSTRY, with the Mat-Su EMS section of the Department of Public Safety, agreed with the previous speaker. He said often the perception is that police and firefighters are the ones in danger, but having been both a firefighter and an EMS responder, he attested to the fact that it is equally, if not more, hazardous to your health. He believes EMS providers should be included in this or another bill. He said paramedics fall into the same category, only with a different licencing provision, and should also be covered. CHAIRMAN GREEN responded that there is a problem with the bill title and the committee was pondering how this might be resolved. MR. CRAIG LEWIS, the Fairbanks Director of the Interior Region Emergency Medical Service, expressed his support of the bill and encouraged its passage. At the same time, he urged the committee in the strongest terms to give the same recognition and benefits to EMS providers, either through an amendment or in another bill. He also stated that EMS providers are in the same danger as their police and fire department counterparts. MR. LEWIS reported that EMT's get shot, stabbed, assaulted and beat up. He emphasized the danger and risk associated with their job of responding to any incident with injuries as well as any threat of biological and chemical agent releases. He said more than 60 million Americans use EMS services in a given year and in Fairbanks, EMS providers responded to twice as many calls as firefighters in 1997. He stressed the fact that EMS providers are killed in the line of duty and deserve the same treatment as other emergency service workers. CHAIRMAN GREEN observed that EMS providers would not fit in this bill due to the title, she proposed the idea of a new committee bill to deal with them. Number 273 SENATOR WARD Noted that anyone with written testimony might send this as well as written requests for such a bill to the State Affairs Committee. MR. STEVE O'CONNOR, Assistant Chief of Central Emergency Services for the central peninsula, and an EMS provider with 26 years experience, agreed with the comments of MR. LEWIS. He clarified that EMS comprises EMT's and paramedics, both of whom should be covered in a companion bill. CAPTAIN TED BACHMAN of the Alaska State Troopers mentioned to the committee that the bill's definition of resident would inadvertently exclude some people who have not been residents of the state for one year prior to the incident. He said police, fire and EMS departments hire people from out of state and, in the case of an accident, he would hate to see someone excluded due to the wording of this definition. He suggested that the wording be changed so, on line 25 after the words armed services, it would read: "or who was a full time employee of . . . " REPRESENTATIVE KELLY said it seems a simple amendment and CHAIRMAN GREEN said it would be addressed in committee. MR. SCOTT CALDER testified via teleconference from Fairbanks and echoed the remarks of the previous speakers, saying it is appropriate for the committee to submit new legislation to include EMS personnel. He said he did have a concern regarding the inclusion of civil authorities in the category of military personnel. He believed it might be important to make a distinction between the two categories. REPRESENTATIVE KELLY commented on the death of an EMS person who is also a firefighter but acting in the capacity of an EMS provider, some testimony had suggested this person would not be covered under the bill and REPRESENTATIVE KELLY did not believe this to be true. SENATOR DUNCAN suggested that the definition of resident is used elsewhere in statute and has been carefully crafted and argued in court. He remarked they might want to be careful in changing it, so as not to cause problems for the bill. He advised consulting the legal department before changing it. SENATOR DUNCAN said he was not sure, but that it may open up a can of worms. CHAIRMAN GREEN asked if the change could be made to "who was employed" rather than "resident." REPRESENTATIVE KELLY replied that this is a policy call and as with many benefits, a period of time is required in order to qualify. He said he does not know that this is a gross inequity and he wants to make sure not to cause further problems. CHAIRMAN GREEN asked if he would like to bring the bill back on Thursday and REPRESENTATIVE KELLY agreed.