House committee reports bill to extend workers’ compensation to volunteers injured during fundraising

Senate Bill 1053, which would amend the Workers' Compensation Act to provide coverage for volunteer emergency responders injured while engaging in organized fundraising activities, was reported favorably as amended by the House Labor Industry Committee.

The committee’s chair introduced the bill and asked that staff explain it; a presenter summarized the measure as a change to the Workers' Compensation Act to cover injuries to volunteer emergency responders that occur during organized fundraising. The committee then considered amendment A0315, which a staff member described as a technical edit to standardize wording throughout the bill to "while organizing or carrying out a fundraising activity." John, a staff member, said, "This is a technical amendment to make the language of the bill internally consistent."

Minority leadership and other members addressed the amendment on the floor. The minority chairman said the amendment and the bill "will help volunteer fire departments all across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" and indicated the change was agreed to with the sponsor's office. The chair emphasized municipalities' reliance on volunteer emergency responders and urged support, saying the bill addressed a gap in current law. After no members raised objections and no negative votes were recorded, the committee amended A0315 into the bill and reported Senate Bill 1053 favorably as amended.

The transcript does not record a roll-call tally; the committee chair declared "seeing none" on negative votes and announced the bill was favorably reported as amended. The committee took no further recorded action on the bill during this meeting.