Firefighters Association of the State of New York lays out legislative agenda, from workers' comp to PFAS in equipment

Better compensation for volunteer firefighters injured in the line of duty and the phasing out of equipment made with forever chemicals known as PFAS were among the legislative priorities laid out by the Firefighters Association of the State of New York Saturday at its 2025 outreach meeting. 

The organization, which represents volunteer firefighters statewide, held the session at the Albertson Fire Department headquarters to bring its agenda before legislators preparing to engage in negotiations with Gov. Kathy Hochul ahead of the April 1 budget deadline. The association’s focus, officials said, is centered on bringing in new volunteer firefighters and keeping them in the service.

“The biggest thing is recruitment. We got to get them in the department, and then the retention will follow,” said Jerry Presta, an East Norwich firefighter and chairman of the Nassau County Junior Firefighters Association. “All of these initiatives — if you put them all together, it helps.”

A bill that calls for volunteer firefighters to be paid the same amount of workers' compensation as paid employees injured on the job is one of the association’s highest priorities, spokesman Rob Leonard said during the meeting.

“Right now, I fall and break my leg here, I get $650 a week … I break my leg at work and I get $1,200,” Leonard said. “We are at a disadvantage.”

Some of the association's 2025 legislative goals mirror last year’s, including raising the income tax credit for volunteer firefighters from $200 to $800, creating a sales tax exemption for products such as smoke detectors and allowing members to receive both an income tax credit and a local real estate property tax exemption.

Officials acknowledged that limited progress was made during the previous budget cycle.

“I’m very disappointed in last year, when we got very little accomplished for the fire service,” said state Assemb. Joe DeStefano (R-Medford). “That, to me, is a defeat, and I don’t like to be defeated.”

Several state senators also attended the meeting: Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood), Jack Martins (R-Mineola), Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Malverne) and Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Southampton).

Ambulance costs and PFAS

The association is lobbying to extend a law that allows volunteer fire department-run ambulances to recover costs of service. That measure expires in April 2026, according to the association.

Since the law went into effect about two years ago, fire departments have recouped $54 million in the Long Island region, association president Eugene Perry Jr. said.

“If this bill sunsets without making it permanent, that part of the equation goes away,” he said.

The association also called for a law prohibiting the sale of firefighting equipment that contain PFAS. Officials said the measure, which would ban PFAS in the equipment by 2028, was included in Hochul's proposed 2026 budget.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ