Bill > S1798

This bill, titled the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act, aims to clarify that individuals who volunteer for emergency services, such as firefighters or emergency medical personnel, will not be considered full-time employees when employers are calculating their workforce size for the shared responsibility requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA's shared responsibility provision, found in section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code, generally requires large employers to offer health coverage to their full-time employees or face potential penalties. This bill specifically amends that section to create an exception, stating that a "qualified emergency services volunteer" will not be counted towards an employer's total number of full-time employees for the purposes of this ACA requirement. A qualified emergency services volunteer is defined as a genuine volunteer providing firefighting, prevention, emergency medical, or ambulance services for an eligible employer. The bill emphasizes that this change only affects how these volunteers are treated under the ACA's employer health coverage mandate and does not alter their status in any other capacity.