911 SAVES Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1015 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 3, 2019 Mr. BURR (for himself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu- rity and Governmental Affairs 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 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Apr 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1015.IS S1015 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1015 IS (1) Public safety telecommunicators play a crit- 1 ical role in emergency response. 2 (2) The work performed by public safety tele- 3 communicators goes far beyond merely relaying in- 4 formation between the public and first responders. 5 (3) When responding to reports of missing, ab- 6 ducted, and sexually exploited children, the informa- 7 tion obtained and actions taken by public safety tele- 8 communicators form the foundation for an effective 9 response. 10 (4) When a hostage taker or suicidal person 11 calls 9–1–1, the first contact is with the public safe- 12 ty telecommunicator whose negotiation skills can 13 prevent the situation from getting worse. 14 (5) During active shooter incidents, public safe- 15 ty telecommunicators coach callers through first aid 16 and give advice to prevent further harm, all while 17 collecting vital information to provide situational 18 awareness for responding officers. 19 (6) When gunshots are fired at police officers, 20 firefighters, or emergency medical technicians, their 21 calls for help go to public safety telecommunicators. 22 (7) Public safety telecommunicators often com- 23 municate with people in great distress, harm, fear, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1015.IS S1015 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1015 IS or injury, while employing their experience and 1 training to recognize a critical piece of information. 2 (8) There have been incidents in which public 3 safety telecommunicators, recognizing the sound of a 4 racked shotgun, have prevented serious harm or 5 death of law enforcement officers who would have 6 otherwise walked into a trap. 7 (9) The work of public safety telecommunica- 8 tors comes with an extreme emotional and physical 9 impact that is compounded by long hours and the 10 around-the-clock nature of the job. 11 (10) Research has suggested that public safety 12 telecommunicators are exposed to trauma that may 13 lead to the development of posttraumatic stress dis- 14 order. 15 (11) Recognizing the risks associated with expo- 16 sure to traumatic events, some agencies provide crit- 17 ical incident stress debriefing teams to lessen the 18 psychological impact and accelerate recovery for 19 public safety telecommunicators and first respond- 20 ers, alike. 21 (12) The Standard Occupational Classification 22 System is designed and maintained solely for statis- 23 tical purposes, and is used by Federal statistical 24 agencies to classify workers and jobs into occupa- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Apr 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1015.IS S1015 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1015 IS tional categories for the purpose of collecting, calcu- 1 lating, analyzing, or disseminating data. 2 (13) Occupations in the Standard Occupational 3 Classification are classified based on work performed 4 and, in some cases, on the skills, education, or train- 5 ing needed to perform the work. 6 (14) Classifying public safety telecommunica- 7 tors as a protective service occupation would correct 8 an inaccurate representation in the Standard Occu- 9 pational Classification, recognize these professionals 10 for the lifesaving work they perform, and better 11 align the Standard Occupational Classification with 12 related classification systems. 13 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF STANDARD OCCUPATIONAL CLASSI- 14 FICATION SYSTEM. 15 The Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 16 et shall, not later than 30 days after the date of the enact- 17 ment of this Act, categorize public safety telecommunica- 18 tors as a protective service occupation under the Standard 19 Occupational Classification System. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Apr 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1015.IS S1015 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS