SB 186

Under current law, the Department of Administration administers a service award program to provide length-of-service awards to volunteer firefighters, volunteer emergency medical responders, and volunteer emergency medical services practitioners.

This bill expands the program to provide grants to volunteer fire departments and volunteer fire companies to make training completion awards to volunteer firefighters. Under the bill, in order to receive a grant, the municipality in which a department or company is organized must have a municipal ordinance that provides a 100 percent match. The completion award for a volunteer firefighter who completes 60 hours of training is $500. The bill also requires that any money a volunteer fire department or fire company receives beyond what it expends on awards each calendar year must be returned to DOA for deposit in the general fund. Finally, under the bill, DOA is required to provide a report to the legislature in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years after the start of the program that includes the number of people who received the grant through the preceding year and the number of those people who are still firefighters in Wisconsin.