On February 7, 2024, Associate Policy Director Dominic Butchko submitted written testimony to the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee in support of SB 578- Professional and Volunteer Firefighter Innovative Cancer Screenings Technologies Program- Funding. This bill authorizes the governor to allocate at least $500,000 in the budget towards the Professional and Volunteer Firefighter Innovative Cancer Screenings Technologies Program.
For the second legislative session in a row, MACo has adopted as a legislative initiative to support forward-thinking Firefighter and EMS incentives. While Maryland beats the national average in 9–1–1 call response times, a growing number of communities are starting to slip below that average and with detrimental consequences. This effectively means that a growing number of the mutual state and county constituents are being put in danger due to a lack of emergency response capacity.
The 2023 report from the Commission to Advance and Strengthen Firefighting and Emergency Medical Services within Maryland (the Commission) identified healthcare, along with education and childcare, as the top incentives to encourage more individuals to join and remain with firefighting as a career. By raising the threshold of minimum funding for the Professional and Volunteer Firefighter Innovative Cancer Screening Technologies Program, the General Assembly would be taking real action to support our first responders.
SB 578’s cross-file, HB 1472, was heard on March 20 in the House Health and Government Operations Committee. Dominic Butchko submitted written testimony in support of this bill.
SB 578 was heard in the opposite chamber, the House Health and Government Operations Committee, on March 27. MACo submitted testimony in support.
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