911 SAVES Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1629 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 MARCH 7, 2019 Mrs. TORRES of California (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. MEADOWS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. STAUBER, and Ms. WILD) 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Accurate 4 Views of Emergency Services Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘911 5 SAVES Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1629.IH H1629 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1629 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Public Safety Telecommunicators play a 3 critical role in emergency response. 4 (2) The work Public Safety Telecommunicators 5 perform goes far beyond merely relaying information 6 between the public and first responders. 7 (3) When responding to reports of missing, ab- 8 ducted, and sexually exploited children, the informa- 9 tion obtained and actions taken by Public Safety 10 Telecommunicators form the foundation for an effec- 11 tive response. 12 (4) When a hostage taker or suicidal person 13 calls 9–1–1, the first contact is with the Public Safe- 14 ty Telecommunicator whose negotiation skills can 15 prevent the situation from getting worse. 16 (5) During active shooter incidents, Public 17 Safety Telecommunicators coach callers through 18 first aid and give advice to prevent further harm, all 19 while collecting vital information to provide situa- 20 tional awareness for responding officers. 21 (6) And when police officers, firefighters, and 22 Emergency Medical Technicians are being shot at, 23 their calls for help go to Public Safety Telecommu- 24 nicators. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1629.IH H1629 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1629 IH (7) They are often communicating with people 1 in great distress, harm, fear, or injury, while em- 2 ploying their experience and training to recognize a 3 critical piece of information. 4 (8) In fact, there have been incidents in which 5 Public Safety Telecommunicators, recognizing the 6 sound of a racked shotgun, have prevented serious 7 harm or death of law enforcement officers who 8 would have otherwise walked into a trap. 9 (9) This work comes with an extreme emotional 10 and physical impact that is compounded by long 11 hours and the around-the-clock nature of the job. 12 (10) Indeed, research has suggested that Public 13 Safety Telecommunicators are exposed to trauma 14 that may lead to the development of posttraumatic 15 stress disorder. 16 (11) Recognizing the risks associated with expo- 17 sure to traumatic events, some agencies provide 18 Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) teams to 19 lessen the psychological impact and accelerate recov- 20 ery for Public Safety Telecommunicators and first 21 responders, alike. 22 (12) The Standard Occupational Classification 23 system is designed and maintained solely for statis- 24 tical purposes, and is used by federal statistical 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1629.IH H1629 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1629 IH agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupa- 1 tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu- 2 lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 3 (13) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 4 Classification are classified based on work performed 5 and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or train- 6 ing needed to perform the work. 7 (14) Classifying public safety telecommunica- 8 tors as Protective Service Occupations would correct 9 an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occu- 10 pational Classification, recognize these professionals 11 for the lifesaving work they perform, and better 12 align the Standard Occupational Classification with 13 related classification systems. 14 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSI- 15 FICATION SYSTEM. 16 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 17 et shall not later than 30 days after the date of the enact- 18 ment of this Act, categorize public safety telecommunica- 19 tors as a protective service occupation under the Standard 20 Occupational Classification System. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1629.IH H1629 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS