PlusPolitics & Government

Overregulating Local Firefighters Could Leave Us All Burned

by Bryce Chinault & Frank Ricci

A proposed Biden-Harris regulation will force municipalities to choose between safety and solvency.

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Firefighter EMT Daniel Cazares puts on his full fire suit and oxygen for a consumption drill training exercise to evaluate performance in an active fire scenario at Station One in Eagle Pass, Texas, July 8, 2023.

Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Reuters

The Biden-Harris administration is pushing a sweeping new regulation through the Department of Labor (DOL) that threatens to devastate local budgets across the country. If implemented, it may very well extinguish volunteer fire departments and explode the budgets of career and combination (both career and volunteer) fire departments in all 50 states.

The cost of this unfunded mandate probably far exceeds any potential benefits, but one outcome is certain: This change would increase property taxes and add to the skyrocketing costs of homeownership.

BC

About the Author

Bryce Chinault

Bryce Chinault is the director of External Affairs at Yankee Institute. He earned his Master of Public Policy degree from George Mason University and has a decade of experience in federal- and state-level policy analysis at the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

FR

About the Author

Frank Ricci

Frank Ricci is a Labor Fellow at the Yankee Institute, past president of the New Haven, Conn., local of the International Association of Fire Fighters union, and a retired battalion chief. He was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano. He is the author of Command Presence.

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