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An Act To Provide Preventive Counseling to Firefighters and Emergency Medical Services' Persons as Part of Their Training
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §3154, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is further amended to read:
 
2. Training; mandatory preventive and post-trauma counseling.   All municipal firefighters and volunteer firefighters shall attend training sessions as scheduled by the fire chief and shall participate in mandatory preventive and post-trauma counseling, at which a counseling professional licensed under Title 32, chapter 119 or the fire department chaplain, if the fire department has a chaplain, must be available to work with the firefighters, as required by the fire chief.
Sec. 2.  32 MRSA §85, sub-§7  is enacted to read:
 
7.  Preventive and post-trauma counseling.     With advice from and in consultation with each regional council and its medical control committee and with the statewide emergency medical services' medical director, the board may provide by rule requirements for preventive and post-trauma counseling for basic and advanced training for emergency medical services' persons for initial licensing and relicensing. The requirements may include the services of a counseling professional licensed under Title 32, chapter 119 or a chaplain, as determined by the ambulance service or nontransporting emergency medical service, to be provided by ambulance services and nontransporting emergency medical services. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined by Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires that firefighter training include preventive and post-trauma counseling, at which a counseling professional licensed under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 32, chapter 119 or the fire department chaplain must be available to work with the firefighters, as required by the fire chief. The bill provides that, with advice from and in consultation with each regional council and its medical control committee and with the statewide emergency medical services' medical director, the Emergency Medical Services' Board may adopt routine technical rules setting mandatory requirements for preventive and post-trauma counseling for basic and advanced training for emergency medical services' persons for initial licensing and relicensing. The requirements may include the services of a counseling professional licensed under Title 32, chapter 119 or a chaplain to be provided by ambulance services and nontransporting emergency medical services.