If House Bill 2025 passes, a new committee may be created to work with kin of fallen firefighters who apply for a tuition waiver from the Arizona Board of Regents.
The committee would review and receive applications for the waiver through a subcommittee that can also recommend scholarships for eligible relatives.
Under Arizona Revised Statute § 15-1808 children under 30 and spouses who have not remarried are eligible for a tuition waiver scholarship that pays for 64 credits at an Arizona community college or enough credits to receive a bachelor’s degree from an Arizona university. The bill would also augment the Arizona Fallen Firefighters and Emergency Paramedics Memorial.
Rep. Rusty Bowers (R-Mesa), the bill’s prime sponsor, said he hopes to gut the bureaucracy that gets in the way of memorializing the fallen firefighters and helping their kin.
“Importantly, (the committee) will review the applications, make sure they’re complete, make sure the kids have their ducks in a row and their lights are turned on and then be able to forward along what they would consider the best applications,” Bowers said. “They have a definite interest both in advancing and improving youth and I think that’s a great way for them to do it.”
Bowers, who is also the sculptor of the memorial, said it was an "arcane," governmental "snafu" that led to the creation of this bill.
“(H.B. 2025) continues from what was a committee designed to build the memorial to a committee to maintain the memorial,” he said. “Rather than a solely governmental function, it allows (the committee) to keep it up and promote it.”
Bowers said the committee ought to be in control of how the memorial’s message is shared moving forward, as firefighters are the most qualified.
“It’s better for them to be able to tell that story, and control that story, to the public and control their monument and so I’m happy to pass this bill and help them do that,” Bowers said. “... I hope this gets government out of their way a little bit.”
The legislatures recognized the need for a new committee after a fallen firefighter was not able to be memorialized last year, according to Bryan Jeffries, president of the Professional Firefighters of Arizona.
Originally, the committee in place was for creation of the memorial and there is currently no legal authorization to physically alter the memorial.
“The family (of the fallen firefighter) was there for the proceedings and we acknowledged and memorialized the name, however we could not physically put it on the wall yet because it had not yet been recognized,” Jeffries said. “Once this committee is up and running we’ll be able to do that.”
As president of PFFA, Jeffries represents 7,000 firefighters and paramedics throughout Arizona. If HB 2025 passes, Jeffries will serve as chairman of the new committee. As the bill states, it will be headed by the president of the state’s largest professional firefighters’ organization.
The committee would consist of eight other members, three of which would be members of the public. Jeffries would appoint one, and Gov. Doug Ducey the other two.
Two government officials and two firefighter associates, the commander of a professional firefighter’s organization honor guard and the President of the Arizona Fire Chiefs’ Association, will round out the board.
Sarah Harper, Arizona Board of Regents spokeswoman, said the board declined to comment on the bill at at this time.
"Given this has just been recently filed, the board had not had a chance to review or take a position on this bill," Harper said.
The bill needs to pass through two House committees, the House and the Senate, but it is not expected to garner any resistance.
Reach the reporter at maatenci@asu.edu or follow @mitchellatencio on Twitter.
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