A bill to give first responders and their children free college tuition has the support of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
SB 71, sponsored by Sen. David Gregory (R-St. Louis County), establishes the First Responder Recruitment and Retention Act. This legislation defines a “first responder” as any person who is trained to give emergency medical assistance or treatment, including police officers, firefighters and paramedics.
The first responder must pursue an associate degree or bachelor’s degree that relates to their career as a first responder. Under the act, the responders and their children can receive a tuition waiver for up to five years.
“This is about recruitment and retention, mostly retention, because we want to keep our police officers, firefighters and EMTs,” Gregory said. “We want them to stick around longer.”
John Duffy is a firefighter/paramedic with the Community Fire District in St. Louis County. He told the Senate Education Committee about how much harder it is to recruit first responders than it was 24 years ago.
“Hundreds of people would wait to get into a lottery system. Some waited years and never got picked to go to the academy,” Duffy said. “Now, departments increase the time they are accepting applications because they have more job openings than applicants.”
Missouri Chamber Director of Legislative Affairs Jared Hankinson testified in support of SB 71, as it addresses both workforce and public safety concerns.
“This legislation accomplishes one of the recommendations of the Missouri Chamber’s Safer Missouri, Stronger Missouri report: to take proactive steps to stabilize and grow the first responder workforce in Missouri,” Hankinson said.
For more information, contact Hankinson at jhankinson@mochamber.com or (573) 634-3511.
