Alabama bill would expand wildland firefighter benefits

Lawmakers in Alabama are slated Feb. 2 to consider a bill that would extend first responder eligibility for disability or death benefits to wildland firefighters employed by the Alabama Forestry Commission who meet certain conditions.

 

H.B. 94 would also specify that a volunteer firefighter or a member of an organized rescue squad who dies of cardiac arrest, cerebrovascular accident or pulmonary edema within 24 hours of preparing to respond, responding or serving in his or her capacity at an emergency or participating in a training exercise would be presumptively deemed to have died in the performance of his or her duties. The bill would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2019.

 

Also prefiled and slated for a first reading on Feb. 2 is H.B. 31, which would revise certain definitions relating to captive insurance companies licensed and regulated by the Alabama Department of Insurance. It would authorize a branch captive insurance company to pool insurance business done in Alabama with business done in alien jurisdictions subject to commissioner approval. The bill, which would go into effect two months after becoming law, would also revise certain security requirements for the payment of liabilities attributable to branch operations.