Requires that before any fire fighter or police officer is eligible to receive benefits for illness or injury sustained off duty, they prove they had reasonable grounds to believe that an emergency existed that required immediate need of their assistance.

Plain-English Summary

This bill would change the rules for when firefighters and police officers can receive injury or illness benefits for something that happens to them while they are off duty. Under current law, these workers may be eligible for benefits if they are hurt or become ill while responding to an emergency situation even when not officially working. This bill would add a new requirement: before receiving those benefits, the firefighter or police officer would have to prove they had a reasonable belief that a genuine emergency existed that needed their immediate help.

In practical terms, this means that if an off-duty firefighter or police officer jumps in to help during what they believe is an emergency and gets injured, they would need to demonstrate that their belief that an emergency was occurring was reasonable and justified — not just a misunderstanding or a situation that didn't truly require their involvement. Simply being present at an incident or choosing to get involved would not automatically qualify them for benefits.

This bill primarily affects firefighters, police officers, and their families across Rhode Island's towns and cities, as well as the local governments that pay out these benefits. For workers, it could make it harder to qualify for benefits if the emergency situation they responded to is later questioned. For municipalities, it could reduce the number of off-duty benefit claims they are required to pay. The bill has been referred to the Senate Labor and Gaming Committee for further review.