Bearing Bad News

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but HB 408 went down in flames yesterday. As Miles City was burning, and our members, as well as their mutual aid partners, were being exposed to countless hazards House Appropriations was shooting down our Legislation.

It didn't go down on a tie vote this time, " IT WENT DOWN FASTER THAN A GROUPIE WITH A BACK STAGE PASS". We did have some friends who stayed with us, and at a later time we will explain to you who they were, and we will also discuss with you those who felt that they couldn't support their Fire Fighter's. It's been a couple of disappointing days around here, but we will take the high road and ultimately we will prevail, just not this time.

I will make you a personal promise today, so maybe print it out and keep it in your possession. From today forward and everyday until the 2011 Legislative session I will work on perfecting our bill, addressing the concerns of our opponents, and I WILL educate legislators and candidates for the Legislature. I WILL remind current Legislators that at the end of all Legislatures this year, that our great labor state will probably only be one of 3 or 4 states with no Presumptive Legislation for their Fire Fighter's.

If any of our members contract any of the illnesses defined in HB 408 during the interim and are denied, please get ahold of me. I will walk with them through the process step by step, and I will use everybody in my contacts to assist them.

There is still work to be done here, but obviously if you have followed any prior blogs and e-mails, our work load has been lessened drastically. So I will be going back to Great Falls and riding the BRT more often, and you know what, it be alot more fun. So what do we still have going? We have to assist in killing LC 1137, we are still assisting Butte in passing HB 608, still seeking money for the fire service in the Stimulus $$$, are assisting with retirement legislation, HB 362 disaster medicine, etc...

Going to close for now, as always, if you have any questions or needs, feel free to contact me at dneil@montanasfa.org or call my cell phone at 406-899-0246.

Stay safe,

Doug

Posted on 3/24/2009 4:30:34 PM