911 SAVES Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2351 To require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to review and make certain revisions to the Standard Occupational Classification System, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 1, 2021 Mrs. TORRES of California (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. EVANS, Mr. KHANNA, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. WILD, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. GARCIA of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. BUDD, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. VELA, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. RUSH, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. SIRES, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. VARGAS, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. ROYBAL- ALLARD, Mr. WELCH, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. STAUBER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. STANTON, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. LAMB, Mr. GUEST, Mr. COHEN, and Ms. HOULAHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to review and make certain revisions to the Standard Occupational Classification System, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2351.IH H2351 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2351 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Accurate 2 Views of Emergency Services Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘911 3 SAVES Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds the following: 6 (1) Public Safety Telecommunicators play a 7 critical role in emergency response. 8 (2) The work Public Safety Telecommunicators 9 perform goes far beyond merely relaying information 10 between the public and first responders. 11 (3) When responding to reports of missing, ab- 12 ducted, and sexually exploited children, the informa- 13 tion obtained and actions taken by Public Safety 14 Telecommunicators form the foundation for an effec- 15 tive response. 16 (4) When a hostage taker or suicidal person 17 calls 9–1–1, the first contact is with the Public Safe- 18 ty Telecommunicator whose negotiation skills can 19 prevent the situation from getting worse. 20 (5) During active shooter incidents, Public 21 Safety Telecommunicators coach callers through 22 first aid and give advice to prevent further harm, all 23 while collecting vital information to provide situa- 24 tional awareness for responding officers. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2351.IH H2351 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2351 IH (6) And when police officers, firefighters, and 1 Emergency Medical Technicians are being shot at, 2 their calls for help go to Public Safety Telecommu- 3 nicators. 4 (7) They are often communicating with people 5 in great distress, harm, fear, or injury, while em- 6 ploying their experience and training to recognize a 7 critical piece of information. 8 (8) In fact, there have been incidents in which 9 Public Safety Telecommunicators, recognizing the 10 sound of a racked shotgun, have prevented serious 11 harm or death of law enforcement officers who 12 would have otherwise walked into a trap. 13 (9) This work comes with an extreme emotional 14 and physical impact that is compounded by long 15 hours and the around-the-clock nature of the job. 16 (10) Indeed, research has suggested that Public 17 Safety Telecommunicators are exposed to trauma 18 that may lead to the development of posttraumatic 19 stress disorder. 20 (11) Recognizing the risks associated with expo- 21 sure to traumatic events, some agencies provide 22 Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) teams to 23 lessen the psychological impact and accelerate recov- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2351.IH H2351 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2351 IH ery for Public Safety Telecommunicators and first 1 responders, alike. 2 (12) The Standard Occupational Classification 3 system is designed and maintained solely for statis- 4 tical purposes, and is used by federal statistical 5 agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupa- 6 tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu- 7 lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 8 (13) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 9 Classification are classified based on work performed 10 and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or train- 11 ing needed to perform the work. 12 (14) Classifying public safety telecommunica- 13 tors as Protective Service Occupations would correct 14 an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occu- 15 pational Classification, recognize these professionals 16 for the lifesaving work they perform, and better 17 align the Standard Occupational Classification with 18 related classification systems. 19 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSI- 20 FICATION SYSTEM. 21 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 22 et shall not later than 30 days after the date of the enact- 23 ment of this Act, categorize public safety telecommunica- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2351.IH H2351 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2351 IH tors as a protective service occupation under the Standard 1 Occupational Classification System. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2351.IH H2351 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS