MADISON, Wis. - Gov. Jim Doyle has signed into law a bill requiring Wisconsin municipalities pay health insurance premiums for survivors of firefighters killed in the line of duty.
Doyle signed the bill Wednesday surrounded by firefighters at a training facility in Madison.
The bill requires municipalities to pay for insurance of the surviving spouse and children up to age 27. The cost to municipalities could not be determined based on a fiscal note filed with the bill.
Another bill Doyle signed prohibits employers from discriminating against employees who choose not to attend religious or political meetings held by their employer.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Seems FFN forgot to mention the Govenor also signed the infectious disease presumption bill into law as well. Which means if a FF, or public safety person, contracts an infectious disease, not found with a baseline hire, it is presumed they were exposed while on duty of the job.
As for this bill, this stems from the loss of GB's LT Arnie Wolfe from 2006 and for insurance to be covered for surviving family members.
The reason there were a bunch of firefighters around was because the state Professional Firefighters of WI, were doing a statewide FireOps 101, which went pretty darn good, IMO.