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Middle Tennessee subcommittee seeks to simplify EIP and VEIP rules to boost firefighter participation
Summary
A Middle Tennessee EIP/VEIP subcommittee discussed proposed rule changes intended to simplify participation for volunteer and career firefighters. Attendance was low and no rule changes were voted on; the group said the package is intended to be small to avoid a multi-year legislative delay and could take effect as early as next year.
A Commerce & Insurance subcommittee meeting for Middle Tennessee on the Emergency Incentive Program (EIP) and Volunteer Emergency Incentive Program (VEIP) reviewed proposed rule changes intended to make participation easier for volunteer and career firefighters.
The subcommittee chair and staff recapped prior rural-subcommittee work and stakeholder feedback, saying the current rules—adapted from 2021 career-side rules—had made participation more complicated for many firefighters. “When we first made these rules back in ’twenty 1, we basically took the career side rules … and regurgitated them to kind of make it fit,” the staff member said. The staff member added, “it’s gonna be a pretty radical change” to the rule package the subcommittee plans to review the following day.
The nut graf: The subcommittee proposed a narrowly scoped package of rule changes aimed at avoiding a full rewrite that would trigger an extended legislative timeline. Staff said keeping the package small was intended to speed implementation, with the hope the changes could be effective starting next year; the exact effective date was not specified.
Meeting participants described steady declines in program participation since the 2021 rules were adopted and identified hard internal deadlines (described in the meeting as a July deadline) that exclude some firefighters from eligibility. The staff member said the subcommittee collected feedback from coordinators and training officers statewide and had already adjusted provisions in the Rural Subcommittee based on that feedback.
Chief Randy Ellis, who attended in person, said he was “just here trying to just stay on top of what’s going on.” The staff member noted only one person was in the physical meeting room and asked whether anyone online wished to speak; no other substantive comments were recorded.
No formal rule changes or votes on the proposed rule package were taken at the meeting. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the chair noted the meeting was closed. The transcript does not record a roll-call vote count or named mover/second for the adjournment motion.
Background: The staff explained the EIP program sits under the Fire Commission and that the 2021 rule set had largely copied career-side rules to cover volunteers; attendees said that approach had proved burdensome for noncareer firefighters. The staff emphasized the proposed package was deliberately limited in scope to avoid another two-year legislative wait associated with a full chapter rewrite. Financial details, statutory citations, and the precise text of proposed rule changes were not provided during the recorded discussion.
The subcommittee scheduled further review of the rule package at a subsequent meeting; no final actions on the rules were recorded at this session.
