| By Ms. Murray, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 2682) of Therese Murray, Eric Turkington, Robert A. O'Leary, Jeffrey D.Perry and other members of the General Court for legislation to create the Massachusetts Military Reservation Fire Department. Public Safety and Homeland Security. |
AN ACT CREATING THE MASSACHUSETTS MILITARY RESERVATION FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Chapter 33 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 137, the following section:-
Section 138. (a) As used in this section the following words shall have the following meanings:-
“Massachusetts military reservation”, approximately 22,000 acres of land owned by the commonwealth in Barnstable county established under chapter 196 of the acts of 1935, and amended by chapters 320 and 344 of the acts of 1936, chapter 5 of the acts of 1941, chapter 665 of the acts of 1955, chapter 617 of the acts of 1956, and chapter 47 of the acts of 2002 and used primarily for military purposes.
“Chief”, the chief of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
“Department”, the Massachusetts military reservation fire department created by this section.
(b) There shall be within the military division a Massachusetts military reservation fire department. The department shall provide air crash crew and fire protection services on the Massachusetts military reservation. The department shall be under the supervision and control of an officer to be known as the chief of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
The chief shall be appointed by the adjutant general. He may be removed by the adjutant general for cause after a hearing. He shall have charge of extinguishing fires on the Massachusetts military reservation and the protection of life and property in the event of fire or explosion. He shall enforce all state and federal fire laws and codes. He shall purchase, subject to the approval of the adjutant general or his designee, and keep in repair, all apparatus used by the fire department, and shall make other necessary expenditures subject to such further limitations as the adjutant general or his designee may prescribe.
The chief shall enter into mutual aid agreements with surrounding cities and towns as necessary. He shall have and exercise all the powers and discharge all the duties conferred or imposed by statute upon engineers in towns except as otherwise provided by chapter 48. He shall appoint a deputy chief and such officers and firemen as he deems necessary and may remove the same for cause after a hearing. The chief, deputy chief, officers and firemen shall be civilian employees of the military division and shall not be subject to the provisions of the General Laws establishing a civil service system. Uniformed members of the department shall be subject to the provisions for firefighters set forth in sections 61A and 61B of chapter 31.
Except as provided herein, the chief shall have full and absolute authority in the administration of the department. He shall make rules and regulations for its operation, shall report to the adjutant general or his designee from time to time as the adjutant general or his designee may require and report annually to the adjutant general on the condition of the department.
SECTION 2. Section 3 of chapter 32 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “men”, in line 278, the following words:- members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department;
SECTION 3. Section 94 of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “Airport”, in line 13, the following words:- or members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
SECTION 4. Section 94A of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “Airport”, in line 8, the following words:- or members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
SECTION 5. Section 94B of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “Airport”, in line 10, the following words:- or members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
SECTION 6. Section 100 of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following paragraph:- For purposes of this section, the word “firefighter” shall include members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
SECTION 7. Section 100A of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:- (h): This section shall apply to members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department killed in the line of duty.
SECTION 8. Section 111F of chapter 41 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “airport”, in line 21, the following words:- and members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department.
SECTION 9. Said section 111F of said chapter 41, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “authority”, in line 22, the following words:- and the Massachusetts military reservation.
SECTION 10. Section 59A of chapter 48 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 10 and 11, the words “or district” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- , district or the Massachusetts military reservation fire district.
SECTION 12. Upon creation of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, all incumbent firefighters currently assigned to the federal fire department at the Otis Air National Guard Base, may transfer to state employment as civilian firefighters in the Massachusetts military reservation fire department subject to approval of the chief of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department and all other requirements of state law. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, such transferees shall have preference for these positions, provided they otherwise meet all other conditions for their hire.
SECTION 13. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, all firefighters employed at the Massachusetts military reservation fire department shall be subject, without payment of overtime compensation, to extended tours of duty as determined by the chief of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, provided such tours of duty do not exceed the wage and hour restrictions under federal law.
SECTION 14. The provisions of this act shall take effect upon the termination of fire protection services by the federal fire department at the Otis Air National Guard Base at the Massachusetts military reservation.
