PRINTER'S NO. 65
No. 71 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY HOLL, JANUARY 23, 2001
REFERRED TO FINANCE, JANUARY 23, 2001
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 11, 1968 (P.L.149, No.84), entitled, as
2 amended, "An act relating to volunteer firefighters' relief
3 associations, clarifying their purposes and objectives,
4 establishing criteria and standards for the conduct of their
5 affairs, providing for their formation, recognition,
6 continuing operation, and for their dissolution in
7 appropriate circumstances and the distribution of their
8 funds," further providing for the use of funds.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Section 6(e) of the act of June 11, 1968
12 (P.L.149, No.84), known as the Volunteer Firefighters' Relief
13 Association Act, amended December 22, 1993 (P.L.547, No.78), is
14 amended to read:
15 Section 6. Funds.--* * *
16 (e) The funds of any volunteer firefighters' relief
17 association may be spent:
18 (1) To pay for such normal and reasonable running expenses
19 as may be appropriate to the businesslike conduct of its affairs
20 including legal fees and including but not by way of limitation
1 the rental or purchase of offices, the payment of reasonable
2 compensation of any needed employes, and the purchase of office
3 equipment and supplies.
4 (2) To purchase contracts of insurance which shall at the
5 least afford financial assistance to active members of the fire
6 service represented by the association against losses due to
7 injury suffered in the fire service and which may also provide
8 in the order named, (i) for payments to the surviving spouse or
9 other dependents of a member in the event of the member's death,
10 (ii) for protection of active firefighters against disease,
11 (iii) for the replacement or purchase of prosthetic devices such
12 as visual aids, hearing aids, dentures, braces, crutches, and
13 the like, where such devices have been lost or damaged while the
14 owner was engaged in the fire service or where the need for such
15 devices arises because of functional impairment attributable to
16 participation in the fire service, (iv) for the repair or
17 replacement if necessary of articles of clothing or pocket
18 pagers damaged or lost in the course of participation in the
19 fire service, and (v) for disability incurred after service for
20 a minimum of twenty years as a volunteer firefighter.
21 (3) To maintain a beneficiary or death benefit fund and to
22 pay a sum certain from that fund to the beneficiary of any
23 participant in that fund upon his or her death. In the event a
24 beneficiary is not designated or a designated one has
25 predeceased the participant, the sum certain shall be paid to
26 the estate of the participant.
27 (4) To pay in full or in part for damage or loss in any of
28 the categories mentioned in clause (2) above in any specific
29 case in which (i) no policy of insurance is in force which
30 covers the risk, or (ii) the amount payable under insurance
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1 policies in force is inadequate to cover the loss.
2 (5) To pay the costs of procuring and forwarding tokens of
3 sympathy and goodwill. To a volunteer firefighter who may be ill
4 or hospitalized as a result of participation in the fire service
5 or who may die or who may be seriously ill for any reason.
6 (6) To make cash payments to families in distressed
7 circumstances by reason of age, infirmities or other
8 disabilities suffered by one of the family in the course of his
9 or her participation in the fire service as a volunteer
10 firefighter.
11 (7) To acquire and maintain membership in any Statewide
12 association or corporation which extends advice and assistance
13 to firefighters' relief associations in the conduct of their
14 affairs and to pay reasonable expenses of travel and maintenance
15 to a duly elected delegate for attendance at such meetings of
16 such Statewide association or corporation.
17 (8) To contribute or to purchase contracts of insurance
18 which will contribute towards the costs of rehabilitating and
19 retraining volunteer firefighters who by reason of their
20 participation in the fire service have suffered a major
21 impairment of their ability to continue their vocation.
22 (9) To pay for medical and surgical bills arising from
23 injuries sustained by volunteer firefighters while engaged in
24 activities of the fire company to the extent that said bills are
25 not covered by insurance provided by the relief association.
26 (10) To pay reasonable expenses actually and necessarily
27 incurred for attending bona fide firefighters' training schools.
28 (11) To purchase safeguards for preserving life, health, and
29 safety of volunteer firefighters, so as to ensure their
30 availability to participate in the volunteer fire service.
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1 (12) To secure insurance against the legal liability of the
2 volunteer firefighters for loss and expense from claims arising
3 out of the performance of their official, authorized duties
4 while going to, returning from or attending fires or while
5 performing their duties as special fire police.
6 (13) To maintain comprehensive health, physical fitness and
7 physical monitoring programs that provide for physical fitness
8 activities, nutrition education and instruction and health and
9 fitness evaluation and monitoring. The programs shall be
10 approved by the nearest State-licensed health care facility
11 which is authorized to provide the service.
12 (14) To purchase exercise and fitness equipment for use by
13 volunteer firefighters. Expenditures for exercise and fitness
14 equipment shall not, however, exceed $2,000 in any two-year
15 period.
16 (15) To purchase fire hose and nozzles.
17 (16) To purchase fire prevention materials for public
18 distribution.
19 (17) To provide scholarships for active volunteer
20 firefighters serving in a Pennsylvania community while enrolled
21 full-time or part-time as an undergraduate or graduate student
22 at a Pennsylvania degree-granting institution. The scholarships
23 may be awarded to the extent that funds are appropriated by the
24 General Assembly for that purpose.
25 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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