THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

INTRODUCED BY FARRY, DiGIROLAMO, BAKER, CALTAGIRONE, CAUSER, DALEY, GEIST, GEORGE, GILLESPIE, GOODMAN, GROVE, HESS, JOSEPHS, W. KELLER, KOTIK, MILLER, O'NEILL, READSHAW, VULAKOVICH, WATSON, KNOWLES, BRENNAN, VEREB, HACKETT, GIBBONS, KULA, FLECK, ROCK, TALLMAN, ELLIS, YOUNGBLOOD AND CLYMER, MARCH 12, 2012

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, MARCH 12, 2012  

A RESOLUTION

Memorializing the Congress of the United States to enact H.R.

4018 (2012), which would enhance and improve the Public

Safety Officers' Benefits Program.

WHEREAS, The House of Representatives of Pennsylvania

recognizes that emergency medical service providers selflessly

devote themselves to ensuring the safety of the residents of

their communities and ultimately of all the people of this great

Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, On March 7, 2010, Danny McIntosh, a paramedic with

the Bensalem Rescue Squad in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, died of

a massive heart attack while on duty, following the chase of a

mentally unstable man who fled medical treatment; and

WHEREAS, The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program was

established in Subchapter XII of Chapter 46 of the Omnibus Crime

Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-351, 42

U.S.C. § 3796 et seq.) and is designed to offer peace of mind to

men and women seeking careers in public safety and to make a

strong statement about the value American society places on the

contributions of those who serve their communities in

potentially dangerous circumstances; and

WHEREAS, The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program

provides a one-time financial benefit, currently $323,035.75, to

the eligible survivors of public safety officers whose deaths

are the direct and proximate result of a traumatic injury

sustained in the line of duty; and 

WHEREAS, A volunteer firefighter and a member of a volunteer

rescue squad and ambulance crew are covered only if they are

officially recognized or designated as a public employee member

of a legally organized volunteer fire, rescue or ambulance

department; and 

WHEREAS, Current Federal law limits these benefits only to

emergency service personnel employed by governmental units; and

WHEREAS, Emergency medical services in most communities

throughout the United States are provided by nonprofit volunteer

or private ambulance services, whose members are not

governmental unit employees even though they serve the public

trust by providing a critically needed service; and

WHEREAS, Because the Bensalem Rescue Squad is a nonprofit

ambulance service, the fallen paramedic's spouse, Bethann

McIntosh, was denied Federal death benefits under the Public

Safety Officers' Benefits Program; and

WHEREAS, H.R. 4018 (2012) was inspired by the line-of-duty

death of Daniel McIntosh and the Federal Government's subsequent

denial of relief to his widow and his two daughters; and

WHEREAS, The enactment of H.R. 4018 (2012) would extend

Federal benefits to the families of volunteer emergency service

personnel who die in the line of duty and would be retroactive

to June 2009; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania

memorialize the Congress of the United States to take favorable

action on H.R. 4018 (2012); and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to

the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each

member of Congress from Pennsylvania.