Council Supports PTSD Presumption Bill

Friday, December 29, 2017 | 0

The Tampa City Council has thrown its support behind proposed legislation that would award first responders lost wages for mental injuries without corresponding physical injuries.

Councilman Luis Viera

Councilman Luis Viera filed a motion, which passed unanimously, to support Senate Bill 376 by Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, WTSP-TV reported.

“These are men and women who go through substantial trauma day in and day out on the job. They see the kinds of things that we wouldn’t even think exist, and they have to take that home with them. Just because there isn’t a physical injury doesn’t mean that they’re not injured,” Viera told the station.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn remains neutral on the bill because the city has not yet done a financial analysis of it, the station reported.

SB 376 passed the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee by a 10-0 vote on Dec. 5.

The proposed legislation states that first responders would qualify for indemnity benefits by showing through a preponderance of the evidence that the mental injury occurred on the job.

Mental-mental injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder would be compensable for police, firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians who arrive on the scene of murders, suicides, fatal injuries or child deaths.