H.B. 338 First Responder Health Amendments: transcript

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Appreciate, uh, flexibility here. Um, we've got, uh, I mean, I'll just tell you, we just lost another one on Friday. We just brought in our family members of, uh, first responders and, uh, warriors that we lost, uh, this last, these last two Fridays while we were on the house floor, uh, we lost another chief, another fire chief in Davis County. Um, during the session last year, we lost sheriff deputy, uh, just outside of his break area while he was at work. Um, we had at least two others, my county sheriff's office and then, uh, two more. Um, so we're not there yet. We're not done. We're not, we're, we're not, uh, where we need to be. HB 3 38, uh, is an effort to, um, continue to strengthen, uh, especially our local small programs in rural Utah. Um, the key function of it is that we are, um, creating a program that they can buy into, uh, for $25, $25 ahead and get access to our DPS network. Um, we're moving over some, some funds that, uh, that we had appropriated for that purpose in the past and funding it with that. We don't know really how much it's gonna cost. We're hoping that, that we're good with the 800,000. It's a funky fiscal note, but that's what it is. Really, we're just moving the money over. Um, so we're not appropriating anything new. Um, but essentially the, the grant programs that Senator Ipson and I ran over these last four years or so, um, were always intended to start up money. They were never intended to be ongoing. They were always one time money. And our effort this time is to, to help strengthen those who haven't been able to get those programs off the ground with what we have left. So, happy to answer any questions if there are any, but it's really the same program that we've had before. Um, we've got a couple of, you know, small changes that we're considering, uh, that we were working on over the weekend. Um, but we haven't made any decisions yet. If we need to, we can run those later. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Motion to favorably recommend HB 3 38 first responder. Health Amendments. Sorry, I was, you, you favorably recommended it. Okay. I'm assuming that's what you said. I got sidetracked.

Oh, the representative has done a lot of work on this bill over years. This is just building upon the past program and further expanding it to help people in need Fully supportive.

I, yeah, I appreciate it. You know, any other brilliant ideas? Please throw 'em out there. Um, you know, there's a lot of the programs are doing well, and we have changed the culture in a lot of departments. Um, we still have work to do and, you know, I'm hope, I'm hopeful that we can see this, turn the corner and, and make a bigger difference than what it's made so far. But I don't want to seem all doom and gloo wanna come back to you. It like that just happened while we were on the floor on Friday. And, uh, that we started getting those messages. And, uh, you know, there's no way around it. That's, that's tragedy and that's a miss for us. Um, and that seems to be harder in leadership roles, by the way. But, uh, we also have received a number of the opposite folks that had never would've dealt with the things that they've, that they've seen and, and done that have reached out and, and thanked us for, you know, helping 'em put their family back together, helping 'em to, to move forward. Um, it's a very difficult thing, but when you get the right therapy and you get the right therapist who understands what our first responders go through, um, it's miraculous. Like you're able to retain the stuff you need to and move on. And it's awesome because it doesn't have to haunt you from shift to shift. So I suppose that's my, that's my close. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Motion to adopt the third substitute.

I would. The third substitute, uh, addresses the fiscal note. Um, really what we're doing is any of the costs of administration, we're now moving into the fund that we're transferring over.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, representatives, uh, I wish I could come to you and report that we've got it right. Um, we don't, uh, I am, I'm sad to, to let you know, those of you that aren't aware that he's not in your area, but we just, we just lost another one of our fire chiefs on Friday. Um, probably at the same time we had, we had the families of our, our fallen firefighters here on the floor with us. And then yesterday we lost another one to cancer that, uh, that everybody knows and, and loves. I I will pass along to you. I spoke with the fire chiefs this morning and offered our condolences and our commitment to, uh, continue this project. Um, what we're doing this year is we're taking, uh, some of the funds that we had already appropriated from years past and doing our best to make sure that it gets to the end of the row. And by that, we've created a system that allows our small agencies, our rurals, our volunteer firefighters to buy into the program and the network that we've already built through the Department of Public Safety, um, that is merely tw $25 ahead for the year in order to get access to trauma-informed mental health specialists that are scattered all over the state. Um, we are gonna do our best to make sure that that's provided in the long term in the future, but this gets us, uh, we believe for, uh, for a good period of time. It also sets up a mechanism whereby, uh, we allow private sector donors to donate to this fund in order to en uh, ensure that, uh, those that want to help to participate can do so, um, and, uh, help support our first responders. So I'm happy to answer any questions Mr. Speaker, but again, we're trying to be as creative as we can without a fiscal impact and, uh, still take care of those who are in dis desperate need.

Thank you. I'll wave Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Motion to adopt the third substitute.

I would. The third substitute, uh, addresses the fiscal note. Um, really what we're doing is any of the costs of administration, we're now moving into the fund that we're transferring over.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Uh, representatives, uh, I wish I could come to you and report that we've got it right. Um, we don't, uh, I am, I'm sad to, to let you know, those of you that aren't aware that he's not in your area, but we just, we just lost another one of our fire chiefs on Friday. Um, probably at the same time we had, we had the families of our, our fallen firefighters here on the floor with us. And then yesterday we lost another one to cancer that, uh, that everybody knows and, and loves. I I will pass along to you. I spoke with the fire chiefs this morning and offered our condolences and our commitment to, uh, continue this project. Um, what we're doing this year is we're taking, uh, some of the funds that we had already appropriated from years past and doing our best to make sure that it gets to the end of the row. And by that, we've created a system that allows our small agencies, our rurals, our volunteer firefighters to buy into the program and the network that we've already built through the Department of Public Safety, um, that is merely tw $25 ahead for the year in order to get access to trauma-informed mental health specialists that are scattered all over the state. Um, we are gonna do our best to make sure that that's provided in the long term in the future, but this gets us, uh, we believe for, uh, for a good period of time. It also sets up a mechanism whereby, uh, we allow private sector donors to donate to this fund in order to en uh, ensure that, uh, those that want to help to participate can do so, um, and, uh, help support our first responders. So I'm happy to answer any questions Mr. Speaker, but again, we're trying to be as creative as we can without a fiscal impact and, uh, still take care of those who are in dis desperate need.

Thank you. I'll wave Mr. Speaker. Thank you.