This was the strangest and toughest of sessions. What was supposed to be a simple budget-only session with a few tweaks to help with COVID-19 response, turned into a tornado involving the state power grid, political red meat, and the three-way Senate-House-Governor conflict. Even though there was broad support for a budget, it nearly failed. Limited access to the Capitol and the Senate made life extremely difficult on that side. We tended to stay out of political fights and hoped that the blowback did not affect us, but in this session there was no way to avoid it. It was extremely frustrating to see our good bills die due to political infighting that had nothing to do with firefighter issues. This did make it easier to prevent the passage of bad legislation involving dues deduction, the repeal of civil service, and the theft of our position on the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP).

SB 1 – Nelson / Bonnen – This was the budget bill. We were able to procure $1 million for professional fire departments affected by border operations. This is for one-time expenses and is distributed by the Governor’s office first come-first serve. The appropriations process is incredibly complex and was basically done behind closed doors this session.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=SB1

SB 22 – Patterson / Springer –This is the Covid Presumption Bill. This bill started out in an extremely confusing state. We believed that a court would have probably ruled that COVID was already covered under the Act. Everyone had good intentions, but many of the parties did not understand how presumption works and had only a basic understanding of workers compensation. We worked hard to make sure that the bill was favorable to firefighters, but also made sense with the existing statute. The last thing we wanted was to end up in court for years. The bill is not retroactive, which could be unconstitutional, but allows a person who was initially denied coverage for COVID-19 the ability to have their claim reprocessed under the new law. Similar provisions in the bill exist for those that did not file claims and there was some concern that some of the cases were early, and testing was not available. This bill had provisions in it to address all of those concerns.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=SB22

HB 2073 – Burrows / Springer – This is the quarantine bill. This bill mandates that your employer will come up with a plan if you are exposed to a contagion. It also mandates that they will pay for all costs related to it, including leave, benefits, lodging, and pension payments. 

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB2073

HB 2171 – Metcalf / Creighton – This bill was for our ESDs. Municipal departments are required in most cases to allow a retiring firefighter to purchase health benefits at full cost. ESDs do not have to offer this benefit. HB 2171 changes that and requires all ESDs in counties with a population of 150,000 or more to offer health insurance to retiring firefighters at full cost. This will be implemented over time so call me and we can discuss details. 

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB2171

SB 709 – Hall / Canales – This is the sunset bill for the TCFP. Multiple parties had targeted this as a place to diminish the Commission’s ability to promote and enforce safety regulations. We beat back every attempt here and the commission will be with us for at least another decade until it must go back through sunset. This bill further legitimizes the work we have put into clean, high-quality gear and safer workplaces.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=SB709

HB 3898 – Anchia / Huffman – This is a bill designed to improve poor performing pension systems. For many years, we have been saying that pension reform is coming whether we want it or not and we better get in front of it. The drive to ensure that systems are funded to at most 30 years is and has been the goal. This bill plays into that thought. For many years we have had to help defend poor performing systems and unfortunately, we are running out of string. In my opinion, this bill is the beginning and not the end of reform. We need to ensure that our employers make meaningful contributions to our pension systems.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=87R&Bill=HB3898

We helped with numerous bills and were able to explain to legislators that you do not always need a bill to accomplish something that we can already do, sometimes better, under current law. Last Session’s big bill, SB 2551, has begun to take hold. According to TDI, cancer denials went from around 90 percent five years ago, to 70 percent in 2019 (law was effective summer of 2019), to 46 percent in 2020. We are pulling numbers from 2021 to see where we stand. Do not forget that one of the most important provisions in SB 2551 was that the provider is responsible for your legal fees if they do not prevail. That is for any workers compensation claim. We wanted and got the ability to go to court and not assume legal fees if we prevailed.

Our DLAs deserve thanks for their hard work. It sometimes seems fruitless, but it pays off. DVP Aidan Alvarado spent the whole session with me and is a force to be reckoned with. Johnny Villarreal kept me in line and provided tracking and support. Not one amendment or bad bill made it without his notice. I also receive a lot of support from Matt Bachop, our general counsel. Having high-level legal support on tap is incredibly important. It allows us to cut through the garbage and provide quality language that supports our cause.

Someone once told me that a successful session was one where you still had your butt intact. In 2021, we killed the bad stuff and brought home some bacon in a very challenging environment.