The National Volunteer Fire Council continues to lobby Congress to adopt the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization Act (S.933), which is co-sponsored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). If passed, S.933 would extend an income-tax exemption on certain benefits that volunteer emergency responders receive as recruitment and retention incentives. The bill expired at the end of 2010 and the council has been working to get the act reinstated since then, said Dave Finger, NVFC director of government relations.

Finger said the original bill, adopted in 2007, stated that any property-tax benefit and up to $360 of any other benefit volunteer firefighters or EMTs received as a reward for service was exempt from income tax. In December 2010, during the last days of the 111th Congress, the three legislative branches reached an agreement that extended expiring provisions in the tax code. Provisions that had been extended previously under the Bush tax cuts were extended, while provisions that had been enacted once but not extended were allowed to expire, he said. The Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act fell into the latter category and was not included in the final agreement.

“The federal government now taxes as income benefits the volunteer emergency responders receive as recruitment and retention incentives, whether that be a monetary benefit or non-monetary benefits, like a membership at a gym,” Finger said.

The exemption expired, essentially raising taxes on volunteer emergency responders. If passed, S.933 would extend the exemption on taxation of property-tax benefits for volunteer emergency responders and increase the value of other benefits that volunteers can receive without having to report or pay income tax from $360 per year to $600 per year.

“A reauthorization of S.933 would restore the exemption on volunteer benefits,” Finger said.

Finger uses Capwiz, an online advocacy site, to develop form letters that can be used by fire personnel and others to contact their congressional representatives, asking them to support the bill. It also lets the council send out action alerts to members, the last of which was sent out in September and generated about 900 e-mails and letters to congressional offices requesting co-sponsorship of the bill.

“We are up to 10 co-sponsors in the Senate and close to 25 in the House,” he said.

Major advocates of the bill include Schumer and Collins, as well as bipartisan support in the House from Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Tom Latham (R-Iowa). Those four House members are the NVFC’s top supports, but Finger said anyone who has joined as a co-sponsor has taken a leadership role to get it passed.

Larson said publicly about the bill that the brave men and women who volunteer to put their well-being on the line every day for their families, friends and neighbors embody the best qualities of all Americans.

“This legislation allows us to say thank you to them and encourage others throughout the country to follow their lead and volunteer to serve in their communities,” Larson said.

Reichert, a first responder for 33 years before coming to Congress and joining the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, added he will continue to work to see this important tax exemption preserved.

“I strongly support proposals that encourage this type of volunteerism by protecting first responders from taxes that are the result of their service,” he said. “The volunteer first responders who work to keep our communities safe don’t ask for anything in return, but I believe the least we can do for them is preserve the modest tax exemption they receive. It’s the right thing to do.”

Finger hoped the bill would be passed earlier this year, but continues to hold out hope. If it does pass, the bill in the Senate will make it retroactive for 2011 while the House bill 2353 does not.

“Our hope would be to make it retroactive for this year and find a piece of legislation moving from now to the end of the year that we could attach it to,” Finger said. “Probably that bill would be one that extends expiring tax cuts.”

Fire chiefs can lobby their congresspeople directly or use a form letter developed by the NVFC, which can be found here.