Sen. Kissel Applauds New Law to Help Firefighters with Cancer

Sen. John A. Kissel is applauding the passage of a new state law which will provide wage replacement benefits to eligible paid and volunteer firefighters diagnosed with specified cancers.

Sen. Kissel co-sponsored this year’s legislation and has supported the concept for many years.

The proposal, which was signed into law last month, had the backing of the Connecticut Council of Municipalities, the Council of Small Towns, municipal leaders and the firefighter unions.

“Many people worked very hard to get this common sense legislation passed,” Sen. Kissel said. “This policy helps protect firefighters here in north-central Connecticut and across the state who are diagnosed and recovering from job-related cancers. At the same time, we are not adding new financial burdens on cities, towns, and local property taxpayers.”

The proposal diverts one cent from the current e 911 fee on phone bills and directs those funds to a new ‘Firefighters Cancer Relief Account’. The account will provide, wage replacement benefits to eligible firefighters who suffer from certain types of cancer. The account will be managed by the Connecticut State Firefighters Association through a new Cancer Relief Subcommittee. The account funds are to be used solely for the purposes of providing wage replacement benefits to eligible firefighter cancer victims and to pay administrative costs. The benefits do not begin until July 2019, permitting the account sufficient time to accumulate funds and the benefits can only continue for up to two years and payments are limited to what is actually in the fund.

The relief would be available to the uniformed members of paid municipal, state, or volunteer fire department, local fire marshal, deputy fire marshals, fire investigators and fire inspectors.

“This law will help protect the firefighters who risk their lives every day to protect our families and our properties,” Sen. Kissel said.

For more information about the new law, visit: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2016/ACT/pa/2016PA-00010-R00HB-05262-PA.htm

Sen. Kissel (www.senatorkissel.com) represents East Granby, Enfield, Somers, Suffield, Windsor Locks and portions of Granby and Windsor. He can be reached at 80-240-0531 and at [email protected] .