Your legislative committee for the AFFI has had a busy and productive session working with the 94^th General Assembly. We have been successful in passing five pieces of legislation that are now on their way to Governor Blagojevich’s desk for his consideration. Here is a synopsis of those five bills:

This bill is clean up language from old HB 2577, which was passed in the 93^rd General Assembly, which lowered the threshold of organizing in local governments from 35 to 5 employees. The Fire Districts were inadvertently left out of the original bill. HB 1313 lowers the organizing threshold in Fire Protection Districts to the same 5-employee level. The bill passed the House on March 15 with a vote of 79-38, and passed the Senate on May 18 with a vote of 39-15.

HB1338 amends the Local Government Employee Political Rights Act. We added similar language that has been in place in Indiana since 1980. We believe all citizens should have the constitutional right to run for and hold public office. Illinois statute currently allows firefighters a variety of political rights up to and including seeking public office. Rulings by attorneys in local units of government have prevented some firefighters, including those on a line of duty disability pension, from exercising the right to hold public office. HB 1338 clarifies a firefighter’s right to serve in that office if elected or appointed, and continue his or her employment with the local unit of government. The bill passed the House on March 9 with a vote of 116-0, and passed the Senate on May 19 with a vote of 33-20-1.

Senate Co-sponsor: Sen. Marty Sandoval

This agreed bill clarifies the Fireman’s’ Disciplinary Act with reference to possible suspensions. Most fire fighters work 24 hours on shift, followed by 48 hours off duty. If a firefighter were to be suspended the intent would be to lose 24 hours or one days pay, and he or she would be restricted from working overtime during their 48 hours off duty. Some fire fighters are receiving 72 hour suspensions, or three 24 hour duty shifts, which was never the intent of the original law. This bill clarifies this issue. The bill passed the House on March 10 with a vote of 116-0, and passed the Senate on May 12 with a vote of 56-0.

House Co-sponsors: Rep. Bill Black & Rep. Mike Bost

Senate Co-sponsor: Sen. Mike Jacobs

This bill would reconstitute downstate local fire fighter pension boards effective April 2006. The new boards would mirror the downstate local police pension boards. Currently fire district boards have eight members, city and town boards have eight members, and village boards have nine members. The proposed new fire fighter pension boards would consist of two members appointed by the Mayor or President of the Board of Trustees of the Fire District, two members elected by the active fire fighters, and one retired fire fighter elected from the retirees. The new board would more accurately reflect the interests of the parties involved, and mirror the composition of the downstate police pension board. The bill passed the House on March 10 with a vote of 82-33, and passed the Senate on May 19 with a vote of 53-2.

Senate Sponsor: Sen. Bill Haine

This agreed bill is a Fire Service Caucus issue to clarify the probationary period of a new firefighter. The probationary period is the time in which a firefighter may be discharged by the employer without a hearing. Current law states that a fire fighters’ probationary period may not exceed one year. However, current statute further states that "the probationary employment period limitation shall not apply to a fireman whose position also includes paramedic responsibilities." HB 1500 defines the purpose for which the probationary period of a firefighter with paramedic responsibilities may be extended. HB 1500 only allows the probationary period to be extended for the singular purpose of obtaining requirements necessary for paramedic certification. The bill passed the House on March 16 with a vote of 113-0, and passed the Senate on May 16 with a vote of 52-0.

The following bill has passed the House, and is currently in the Senate, and remains a very high legislative priority for the AFFI. We are going to continue to work with the sponsors and the leadership of the Senate to see its passage. Here is a synopsis of that bill:

Senate Sponsor: Sen. James DeLeo

This bill addresses the concept of creating "public safety" departments whereby police officers are trained to be fire fighters and fire fighters are trained to be police officers. This concept was experimented with 30-40 years ago in certain cities in Illinois, and in the end, proved to be very cost prohibitive and produced high turnover rates, and the pool of future candidates for these positions rapidly dwindled. They were quickly phased out, with the exception of Glencoe and Rosemont. Since then, communities have been providing separate fire and police departments throughout Illinois with much success. Competition for future openings in these separate careers remains high. Police officers & firefighters go through very lengthy and arduous initial and ongoing training. Despite the fact that police officers and fire fighters work together on many occasions, each profession is very unique and specialized. We would like the State of Illinois to recognize and confirm the uniqueness of these vital professions, and make a statement that they should remain separate. Three of our brother fire fighters from Bensenville Local 2698 drove down to Springfield to testify before the House Labor Committee, and helped pass the bill out of committee with a vote of 12-6. They spent the morning with the AFFI and the House Sponsor, Rep. Larry McKeon going over testimony and strategy. The bill then passed the Illinois House on April 8 with a vote of 73-35-1, and is currently on first reading, and in Senate Rules committee.

We have met with the Governor’s staffers discussing our legislation. We will keep you updated on the status of our bills

President Foreman also worked with the AFL-CIO on the negotiating committee for Worker’s Compensation Reform for all Illinois workers and businesses and employers. They spent many, many hours negotiating with the business community, and the Governor’s office mediated the negotiations. There is an agreement as of this date, and the agreement was put on HB 2137.

Please watch the webpage for future frequent updates.