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Senator Schumer Introduces Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization Act

Published Date: 05.24.2011

On May 10 Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) along with original co-sponsor Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization Act (S. 933), which would extend an income tax exemption on certain benefits that volunteer emergency responders receive as recruitment and retention incentives which expired at the end of last year.

“I’d like to thank Senator Schumer and Senator Collins for introducing this critical piece of legislation,” said National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg. “Between 2008 and 2010, any property tax benefit and up to $360 of any other type of benefit that a volunteer firefighter or EMT received as a reward for providing service was exempt from being subject to income tax. By allowing this exemption to expire, Congress and the Administration have essentially raised taxes on volunteer emergency responders and local governments that provide recruitment and retention incentives. S. 933 would restore the exemption on volunteer benefits.”

In December 2010, during the last days of the 111th Congress, the House, Senate, and White House reached an agreement on legislation extending various expiring provisions in the tax code. As per the terms of that agreement, provisions that had been extended previously (including the “Bush tax cuts”) were extended again while provisions that had never been enacted once but never been extended were allowed to expire. The Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Act, which passed behind the strong support of the NVFC in 2007, fell into the latter category and as a result was not included in the final agreement.

S. 933 extends the exemption on taxation of property tax benefits for volunteer emergency responders and expands the value of other benefits that volunteers can receive without having to report or pay income tax from $360 per year to $600 per year. The bill would extend the benefits retroactive to the beginning of 2011 to prevent a lapsing of VRIPA.

The NVFC, along with the Congressional Fire Services Institute, International Association of Fire Chiefs, and National Association of Towns and Townships, sent a letter to Senators Schumer and Collins thanking them for introducing S. 933 and pledging support for the bill. The NVFC has posted an Action Alert using Cap Wiz that you can use to contact your Senators to ask them to co-sponsor S. 933.

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