WASHINGTON – On Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, announced he is co-sponsoring legislation that would protect Alabama’s 75 volunteer fire departments from a provision of ObamaCare that would threaten their staffing levels.

The Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act was introduced by Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa.

Currently, the IRS defines volunteer firefighters as employees for federal taxation purposes. Should this bill be passed into law, volunteers would be redefined as non-employees and therefore remove the burden of ObamaCare that would require the fire departments to pay for their volunteers’ health insurance benefits.

“It is unwise and a threat to public safety to place this costly mandate on our volunteer fire departments,” Bachus said in a statement. “They provide an essential service to our communities and run on very tight budgets as it is. Requiring volunteer companies to comply with the employer mandate might not have been an intended goal of Obamacare, but it is yet another example of a possible adverse consequence from its implementation.”

The legislation has been endorsed by the National Volunteer Fire Council and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

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