0 on bill to exempt firefighters and emergency responders from Obamacare rules
House approves the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act (HR 33). The bill sponsored by Lou Barletta, (R PA 11) buy replica oakleys ensures that emergency services volunteers are not counted as full time employees by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the Employer Mandate of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). If volunteer fire companies were subject to the mandates of ACA, they could be liable for crippling new health care costs, causing many to have to close their doors. The bill now heads to the now Republican controlled Senate for its approval.
"To be clear, forcing volunteer fire companies to comply with Obamacare will not extend health insurance to the uninsured," Barletta said. House on March 11, 2014 by another unanimous vote of 410 to 0. When it reached the Democrat dominated Senate, it became embroiled in politics, which effectively killed the bill. Following months of pressure from Barletta, other members of Congress, and firefighters, the IRS indicated that it will not count hours of volunteer firefighters and emergency responders when determining an employer's full time employees in compliance with the ACA. Barletta, however, continued to pursue passage of his legislation http://www.replicachristianlouboutin.us.com/ as insurance against future changes from the IRS.
"This is too http://www.cheappromdresses.us.com/ important of a public safety issue to be left to the changing positions of unelected federal bureaucrats at the IRS," Barletta said. "Their arbitrary regulatory guidance could easily be changed back. Our people at home deserve better. We owe our emergency service volunteers who replica oakleys risk their lives every day rock solid certainty."
Prior to Barletta's pressure, the IRS declined to indicate how it would classify hours of service for emergency volunteers under the ACA, meaning that fire companies and municipalities could be forced to provide volunteers with health insurance or pay a fine. Fire Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Ninety seven percent of our fire companies are either completely or mostly volunteers. Nationally, almost 92 percent of fire companies use at least some volunteers and over 86 percent depend on all or mostly volunteers."
Under the Employer Mandate Provision of the ACA, employers with 50 or more employees must provide health insurance or pay penalties. If volunteers were ever considered employees, fire companies could exceed the 50 employee threshold in several different ways: a volunteer department by itself based on size; by being part of a combined, paid volunteer firefighter department; or by being part of a municipality that has 50 or more public employees in total.
"This legislation says, once and for all, that volunteer firefighters are just that volunteers and should not be subjected to the employer mandate," Barletta said. "It takes away the power of the IRS to change the rules."
To watch Barletta comment on the merits of the bill click
Filed in: News
You obviously are not a volunteer of any kind. I am the fire chief of a 30 member volunteer fire district covering 72 square miles and 3,000 residents. My volunteer earn a per call stipend of about $7.00 for every call they run. My guys that take time away from their families and FT jobs earn $3.75 an hour over their 48 hour shift. This pay is all our budget can pay. They area rely volunteers because not many people will devote that many hours for so low compensation. Having to pay insurance for 30 people would double my budget and double the residents taxes. Now is that fair to the taxpayers. Our option would be closing our doors and letting our area be absorbed by the next closest fire company, 15 miles away, that if they don close. It that extra 15 miles fair to my residents. Volunteer fire companies can not absorb ACA as an unfounded mandate.
I agree that volunteers should not be considered employees, but this requirement is not because of the ACA. It an IRS rule and has been for years and years it has nothing to do with any recent US President. My department was audited by IRS several years and I went through this personally. If any receives any compensation (cash, gift card, stipend, points check, whatever) that is not considered reimbursement of an actual allowable expense, then they are supposed to get a W2 and have withholding taken. Quote from the IRS agent in our audit: you pay them one dollar, you have to issue a W2. I don agree with it but that the law.
I am glad that Congressman Barletta buy fake oakleys and IRS recognize that volunteer fire agencies could never afford health care for their members, which would result in the closing of a lot of fake oakleys fire/EMS stations. I wish they had sorted all of this out before the law was passed, but we don live in that perfect of a world.
