NY State Senate Bill 2025-S3431

Senate Bill S3431

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Directs the office of fire prevention and control to conduct a study which evaluates the minimum recommended qualifications to becoming a volunteer firefighter

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 27, 2025	referred to finance

co-Sponsors

2025-S3431 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2017-2018: S9182
2019-2020: S178
2021-2022: S2256
2023-2024: S3199

2025-S3431 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the office of fire prevention and control to conduct a study, which evaluates the minimum recommended qualifications to becoming a volunteer firefighter; requires such office to provide a report to the governor, temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly within twelve months of the effective date of this act.

2025-S3431 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S3431

SPONSOR: HELMING
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to direct the office of fire prevention and control to conduct a
study which evaluates the minimum recommended qualifications to becoming
a volunteer firefighter

 
PURPOSE:

The Office of Fire Prevention and Control (OFPC) shall conduct a study
that examines and evaluates the minimum qualifications recommended for
volunteer firefighters. In addition, this legislation would require
OFPC, within 12 months, to report on the findings of this study to the
Governor, Temporary President of the Senate and the Speaker of the
Assembly.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Sections 1 : Directs OFPC to conduct a study, which evaluates the mini-
mum qualifications recommended to becoming a volunteer firefighter

Section 2: Directs OFPC, within 12 months, to report the findings of
such study to the Governor, Temporary President of the Senate and the
Speaker of the Assembly.

Section 3: Provides an immediate effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Recently, there has been a growing shortage of volunteer firefighters
across the entire country and specifically, New York State. This can be
attributed, among various factors, to a change in the economy, which
promotes two-income households and working multiple jobs.  Because of
this shift, many people do not have the time to dedicate to becoming a
volunteer firefighter. Those who do decide to become volunteer fire-
fighters and undergo training, oftentimes are required to dedicate
upwards of 20 hours a week on top of their regular employment to
complete this training.

In addition to the additional hours, many firefighters who undergo these
1rainings have to travel long distances because of a lack of training
courses close to home. This adds time onto the commitment of completing
the qualifications and serving the community. Federal regulations apply
to all fire departments in New York State and require that members be
provided with training and education commensurate with the duties and
functions that such members are expected to perform. OFPC and the
Department of Labor's Public Employees Safety and Health Bureau (PESH)
and fire service organizations have developed a recommended set of "Best
Practices" for use by fire departments to assist fire departments in
complying with the Federal regulations. The goal of this study is for
OFPC to evaluate these minimum qualifications, or best practices, recom-
mended to become a volunteer firefighter while considering the shortage
that is having an effect on communities across the state.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:


2023-2024: S.3199 referred to Finance/A.1426 referred to Governmental
Operations

2021-2022: S.2256 died on Third Reading/A.506 referred to Governmental
Operations

2019-2020: S.178 died on Third Reading/ A.7956 referred to Governmental
Operations

2018: S.9182 referred to Rules

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S3431 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3431
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 27, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  HELMING, ASHBY, TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
 
 AN ACT to direct the office of fire prevention and control to conduct  a
   study which evaluates the minimum recommended qualifications to becom-
   ing a volunteer firefighter

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The office of fire prevention and control shall  conduct  a
 study that examines and evaluates the recommended minimum qualifications
 for volunteer firefighters.
   (a)  The  type  of  settings included in the study shall be subject to
 funds available but include, at minimum, the coursework required to test
 for the Firefighter certification, or the Firefighter Recruit I  and  II
 certifications,  as  defined  in  part  426  of title 19 of the New York
 Codes, Rules and Regulations, the recommended number of hours of  train-
 ing,  availability  of  training  courses and resources, availability of
 trainers, and minimum qualifications for trainers.
   (b) The study shall take  into  account  factors  including,  but  not
 limited  to:   geographical region, prominent industries in that region,
 demographics of populations and demand for volunteer firefighters.
   § 2. Within twelve months of the  effective  date  of  this  act,  the
 office  of  fire  prevention and control shall submit a report detailing
 the findings of the study to the governor, the  temporary  president  of
 the senate, and the speaker of the assembly.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04581-01-5

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S3431

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Pamela Helming