Pictured Left to Right: are representatives of the Emergency Services who testified at the PA House Hearings: George “Beau” Crowding, Deputy Director for Fire Services Chester County Emergency Services; Don Konkle, Executive Director PA Fire and Emergency Services Institute; Craig Konkle, Energy Development Emergency Response Coordinator Lycoming County Dept. of Public Safety; Tracy Brundage, PH.D., Vice President PA College of Technology Workforce Development & Continuing Education; Donald DeReamus, Legislative Chair of the Ambulance Assoc. of PA; Richard Gibbons, Director of the Dept. of Health Division of Emergency Services. Robert Grunmeier, Executive Director Dept. of Contracted Public Safety Training & Education Bucks County Community College. Following presentations by various officials a lengthy question and answer period followed covering many details.

PA House Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee Holds Hearing to Receive Updates on PA Emergency Services Issues

PA House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee; chaired by Stephen Barrar, PA House of Representatives; Chris Sainato, PA House of Representatives on February 22, 2017 to gather information on statis of PA Emergency Services

Testimony of the PA Fire and Emergency Service Institute February 22, 2017

Don Konkle, Harrisburg Fire Chief (Ret.)Executive Director PA Fire and Emergency

Service Institute and Legislative Chair Firemen’s Association of the State of PA

Good Morning Chairman Barrar, Chairman Sainato and committee members. I am Don Konkle. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

As you are aware recruiting and retention of fire and EMS personnel is a critical challenge. The number of volunteer firefighters has fallen from 300,000 in 1976 to approximately 50,000 today.

When people are asked why they leave the fire service or never join the service one of the most frequent reasons given is training. Both the time required to train as well as the cost of training have a negative impact in recruiting and retention. Hopefully, the time issue will be addressed later this year when a web based blended training is funded.

Today we have the opportunity examine cost reduction. Prior to 2005 a large portion of the cost to train fire and EMS personnel was paid for by Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) funding provided to community colleges. FTEs where based on the number of students enrolled in fire and EMS training classes. In 2005 the funding formula was changed and FTEs for non-credit classes were eliminated. This funding change did not reduce the bottom line appropriation to the colleges it simply changed the funding formula.

The elimination of FTEs had the effect of removing an important subsidy for training. At the time we were assured that the colleges would continue to support training for the emergency services. However, as budgets tightened we saw many Community Colleges require these training programs break even or become profit centers within the college. The result has been steadily increasing cost for training. Many small fire departments have been force to quit paying for training and require the volunteer to pay their own way.

Some community colleges have dropped the public safety training programs completely. PFESI and the Firemen’s Association of PA fully support a state funded subsidy for training.

However, any funding to support training must include all agencies that are accredited by the commonwealth to provide training. Currently Lancaster County, Chester County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, PA College of Technology in Lycoming County among others provides accredited training outside of the community college network. These programs fill import potential gaps in service delivery and should be funded along with the community colleges.

Thank you and I will be happy to answer questions.

Testimony of George D. Crowding, Deputy Director for Fire Services County of Chester; Chester County Dept of Emergency Services

601 Westtown Road, Suite 012 PO Box 2747West Chester, PA 19380-0990Chairman Barrar, Chairman Sainato,

distinguished members of the Committee – I am Beau Crowding, Deputy Director for Fire Services in Chester County. Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this hearing.

On January 23, I had the honor of joining you and your colleagues at the Capitol, along with many of my colleagues, to support your announcement of a “reboot” of Senate Resolution 60 of 2003 – a comprehensive study of Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) issues completed in 2005 – and to discuss a 16-bill package of legislation to complement and build on previous efforts to help Pennsylvania’s first responders and address key issues such as recruitment and retention. The fire service is anxious to be a part of this reboot and that is why I am here today to speak with you about one of the 16-bills included in the package: Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) – Community College Training Funding: Restoration of dedicated state funding for training of Fire and EMS personnel.

Under the Office of State Fire Commissioner’s (OSFC) Pennsylvania Sate Fire Academy (SFA) Educational Training Agency (ETA) program, the SFA acts as an accrediting and coordinating entity. The training programs are conducted by the SFA’s system of ETAs, comprised of participating community colleges, county/regional fire training academies, and other similar organizations. The delivery of training programs through ETAs has always been the most popular method for our first responders to receive the training they need.

For years, fire and EMS training programs were offered for free or very inexpensively through community colleges because they were able to utilize state education funding streams to cover or offset the cost of training programs and staff. County and regional fire training academies offered the same fire and EMS training programs by a combination of charging participants, grants, and county tax dollars. Act 46 of 2005, changed the funding method to community colleges by eliminating the ability for reimbursement of non-

credit public safety training and associated staff. This change created additional demand, and financial burdens, on the county and regional fire training academies as the majority of community colleges ceased offering training.

In Chester County, it costs taxpayers $1,150 for very new firefighter to be trained. The tax funding is in addition to the revenue collected by charging a fire company $425 for every new firefighter they are sending to be trained. In the past ten years, Chester County has trained 1,144 new firefighters, costing Chester County taxpayers more than $1.3M. This doesn’t account for the other 1,000+ fire training programs and more than 15,000 first responders we have trained, costing Chester County taxpayers an additional $3.5M. We are fortunate in Chester County. Not only have our Board of Commissioners supported fire and EMS training programs, they have invested more than $30M in a state-of-the-art public safety training campus and more than $70M in state-of-the-art public safety communication systems.

In closing, as you consider ways to increase the delivery of training throughout the Commonwealth with possible restoring funding for fire and EMS training at community colleges, I urge you to include all State Fire Academy Educational Training Agencies – community colleges and county/regional fire training academies – in this legislation.

Thank you for your leadership on this important piece of legislation and all the parts of the SR60 reboot. I am happy to answer questions you may have at this time.

Donald DeReamus Remarks on behalf of Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania onChanges in Community Colleges Funding and Fire & Emergency Medical Services Training

Chairman Barrar, Chairman Sainato and members of the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, thank you for the opportunity share remarks relative to changes in Community College funding and its impact on fire and emergency medical services training.

My name is Donald DeReamus and I am a Board member and Legislative Chair of the Ambulance Association of Pennsylvania (AAP). I am also a practicing paramedic and senior management for Suburban EMS in east-central PA with over 40 combined years experience in both the volunteer fire service and volunteer/career EMS and a decade as emergency management coordinator. Accompanying me today is Heather Sharar, Executive Director of the AAP.

With the advancement and sophistication of fire and EMS training programs, the community colleges system in PA assumed a role as a facilitator of fire and EMS education teaching essentials of firefighting and advanced first aid and later Emergency Medical Technician training programs.

In those days, volunteers would simply have a form signed by the Chief of a volunteer organization for the bursar’s office and a volunteer was admitted into these non-credit courses at a cost of a textbook. The funds collected from the communities to fund the Community College were essentially returned as trained volunteers providing a public service through the fire or ambulance service in their communities.

The funding for these programs changed with the passage of Act 46 of 2005. Funding formulas for “workforce development courses” or non-credit courses in the general areas of health professional and allied job skills and safety were changed. An EMS System in the Commonwealth once majority volunteer lost its ability to obtain the education for its volunteer EMS workforce. Personal costs for training prompted corrosion in the volunteer workforce and ambulance services were forced to transition into career services. This transition prompted increased administrative costs at the EMS Agency level.

Some counties initially attempted to sell blocks of training to fire and EMS services to educate their personnel. Counties like mine in Northampton have been subsidizing the training through appropriations and grants.

My local community college now charges $1060 tuition of the non-credit National Registry Emergency Technician Basic Course. Tuition does not include the required PA State Police and FBI Criminal History Background and the PA Child Abuse History Clearance for an additional cost of $43.50.

A person now must weigh spending over $1060 to become a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician to volunteer their time or obtain employment with an EMS Agency for a wage ranging from minimum wage to $14/hour depending on geographic location. The cost benefit ratio between the price of the education and effectual wage is dismal.

The passage of the Emergency Medical Service System Act (Act 37 of 2009) and promulgated regulations (specifically 28 PA Code §1025) placed additional stipulations on EMS Education and EMS Educational Institutes hindering the proliferation of these programs, especially in rural areas of the Commonwealth.

The Department now requires eligible entities to be a secondary or postsecondary institution, hospital, regional EMS council, and educational institutes in the armed force or other entity deemed to meet the criteria specified by the Department. The burden of these requirements is impacting decisions to provide EMS training.

Representative Marin Causer (R-67th) has sponsored HB400, PN412 to increase the funding available through the Emergency Medical Services Operating Fund (EMSOF) with an additional requirement that no less than 30% to be used to EMS training need in rural PA.

The EMS System in this Commonwealth is in crisis. The change in Community College funding in 2005 has negatively impacted the EMS System. It is a sound argument the monies collected from the local communities that fund their local Community College gain an excellent return of investment by directly contributing to public safety in their communities by funding the education of those providers.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer these remarks. We will gladly entertain any questions you may have.

The AAP is a member organization that advocates the highest quality patient care through ethical and sound business practices, advancing the interests of our members in important legislative, educational, regulatory and reimbursement issues. Through the development of positive relationships with interested stakeholders, the AAP works for the advancement of emergency and non-emergency medical services delivery and transportation and the development and realization of mobile integrated healthcare in this evolving healthcare delivery environment.

Our nearly 250 members are based throughout the Commonwealth and included all delivery models of EMS including not-for-profit, municipal based, fire based, hospital-based, volunteer and air medical. Our members perform a large majority of the patient contacts reported to the Department of Health.

PA House Hearings from Page

Testimony before the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee

February 22, 2016Bob Grunmeier, Bucks County Community

CollegeGood morning, and thank you Chairman Barrar,

Chairman Sainato, and the members of the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee for the opportunity to speak before the committee today. My name is Robert Grunmeier, and I am the Executive Director of the Department of Contracted Public Safety Training and Education at Bucks County Community College.

Today, I will give you a brief overview of how community colleges fund training today, and idea of the expertise of community colleges in this field, and a recommendation of how the Commonwealth could fund this training in the future.

Currently, PA community colleges fund training from a variety of sources:

a. General Operating Appropriation from the Commonwealth

b. County Government support (This is applicable to many, but not all community colleges who provide training).

c. Revenue from public safety course tuition and training memberships (Which often do not cover the entire cost of providing the training – this applies to some, but not all community colleges)

d. Revenue from contract training work for governments and corporations. Much of the contracted training for business, industry, corporations or governments is not exclusively for firefighters (For example – OSHA or Hazardous Material training at transportation companies or retailers).

It is estimated that Pennsylvania Community Colleges provided fire, EMS, rescue or hazardous materials training amounting to more than 90,000 student registrations in 2015-16.

Clearly, PA’s community colleges have the experience and resources to efficiently manage training and education budgets and to forecast and assess trends within the emergency services field. They are the logical choice for delivery of this important training, and have the ability to move forward in delivering the training utilizing online education, PLA (prior learning assessments) credits, badging, and credentialing Pennsylvania’s Emergency Services Workforce.

The technology, sciences, and research challenges can be daunting; however, Community Colleges successfully address these challenges in every program of study they offer. An institution designed and charged with a mission to educate our workforce, develop and enhance knowledge and skill sets, and to meet the educational and training needs of our communities seems to be the logical choice for moving forward.

How should this training be supported/how should the Commonwealth fund this training?

The Colleges agree that the issue is worth studying and exploring. This training is highly specialized and expensive. The colleges have spent years and significant resources in developing high-quality programs that are responsive to trends and needs within the emergency services field. In order that these programs remain viable for the future to protect PA citizens, they must receive appropriate levels of support.

In the past, public safety courses offered at community colleges were funded on a reimbursement basis per FTE. However, this per FTE reimbursement structure was eliminated via Act 46 of 2005 and the colleges currently receive no dedicated funding to support the important work they do in this area.

Robert Grunmeier, Executive Director Dept. of Contracted Public Safety Training & Education Bucks County Community College

Continued on Page

Under the previous funding mechanism, the colleges received 100% for lecture hours and 50% for lab hours. While this funding was appreciated, it nevertheless failed to recognize that in public safety courses, lab sessions require more instructor supervision, thus more instructors, because of the nature of the training and the associated risks and exposures. Many public safety courses have a standard instructor-to-student ration to support a safe training environment. The previous formula failed to compensate the colleges appropriately for these costs.

Funding for Fire and EMT training should be distinct and in addition to current community college appropriations to allow colleges offering this important community service to continue the training without penalizing colleges who do not currently provide training.

I and my fellow emergency service training providers at PA’s community colleges offer the following recommendations for funding public safety training for firefighters and emergency medical services personnel and other first responders in the Commonwealth.

• Fully fund community colleges (Community Colleges requested $28M increase their operating appropriation in 2017-18 state budget and a $2M increase in the capital appropriation)

• Restore dedicated funding for this purpose which would include a 100% FTE reimbursement for both lecture and lab hours

• PDE should be given the administrative responsibility to allocate any emergency services FTE funds to the colleges. Assigning this function to PDE would utilize existing administrative structures and relationships to allocate the funds and would be the most efficient way to ensure the resources are directed appropriately. Assigning distribution of funds to another administrative entity would be unnecessarily bureaucratic and burdensome.

We look forward to working with our educational colleagues, local, county, and state governments, and the core agencies that provide these essential services to our communities. Thank you for the opportunity to convey the colleges’ interest.

Robert Grunmeier, Executive DirectorPublic & Industrial Safety Training & CertificationBucks County Community College267-716-3785 or Robert.grunmeier@bucks.edu

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Testimony By Dr. Tracy Brundage, Vice President of Workforce Development, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, PA & Craig Konkle, Lycoming County Dept. of Public Safety

Chairman Barrar and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss emergency preparedness as it relates to fire and EMS training via the community college system. We are here to represent Pennsylvania College of Technology and the Lycoming County Department of Public Safety. Penn College is the state’s premier technical college with over 100 years of providing education and training for Pennsylvania. Before our affiliation with The Pennsylvania State University in 1989 to become the Pennsylvania College of Technology, we were a community college. This affiliation allows us to offer associate’s, bachelor’s and a master’s degree(s) in over 100 different career fields.

More than 5,300 students are enrolled with an overall placement rate of 96% showing that our applied technology mission is critical to filling the workforce skill gaps in Pennsylvania. The College also provides short-term training through its Workforce Development & Continuing Education office. This department sees over 7,000 enrollments a year and customizes and delivers innovative, cost-effective, professional development training to meet operational goals and challenges of business and industry.

Beginning in 2008-09, Penn College witnessed a considerable amount of natural gas development in our region. The College began designing and developing training programs for the industry. It became apparent that there was a need to address the emergency responder community by providing hands-on instruction that would enable them to understand and implement effective emergency response practices related to the oil and gas industry. The College was approached by Lycoming County representatives and several industry partners to consider developing a permanent training facility designed to support local emergency responders (firefighters, EMS, state agencies).

In May 2012, the Energy Technology Education Center (ETEC), a joint venture between Penn College, the Lycoming County Department of Public Safety, and natural gas industry partners opened in Montgomery, PA, establishing a unique statewide training resource. The facilities and

equipment used at ETEC support hands-on training for new and existing workers in the natural gas industry and other energy-related fields, as well as filling a known gap for emergency responder training. The goal for the College was to generate enough tuition support from classes held at the facility to sustain operations. Act 13 financial support for the emergency responder training at this facility came from Lycoming County government. Additionally, the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy used this facility for training responders in alternative energy response courses with their allotment of Act 13 funds. As the scope of training widened, responders from the north-central region of PA began requesting a variety of first responder training and it was then that the College became an ETA (Education Training Agency) for the PA State Fire Academy to provide and expanded scope of learning.

From 2011-14, there were 1,500+ responders that took advantage of the hands-on training offered at Penn College. This training is important because it allows emergency responders the opportunity to simulate real world emergencies in a controlled environment. In 2015-16, Act 13 financial support ended and without the support of state funding through the Community College Block Grant or other sources the College suspended most of their emergency responder training offerings within the last year. As the only ETA in North-central Pennsylvania, 1 of 3 between Interstate 80 and the New York border and the only one with the physical hands-on facilities to provide emergency responder and alternative energy training, we are strategically positioned to support the training needs of the region if we had the funding and support. Many fire departments and individuals are not able to pay for these services on their own and rely heavily on financial support. Penn College is not a community college; however, we are providing a valuable and needed service in an area that is not served by a community college. Therefore, we urge you to include all State Fire Academy ETA’s (Educational Training Agencies) in this legislation.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today.

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Testimony By Frank Sullivan. Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Military Community Enhancement Commission

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today.Pennsylvania has undergone five Base

Realignment and Closure (BRAC) rounds at a total cost of 18,900 full-time jobs including the closures of Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Hospital, Warminster Air Warfare Center, Willow Grove, the 99th Regional Readiness Command, the Kelly Support Barracks (Oakdale) and swaths of Letterkenny Arm Depot. Proportionally, Pennsylvania has lost more jobs than every state with the exception of California.

Following the losses of the 1995 BRAC, Governor Ridge created the first state effort to resist BRAC losses. This effort was sustained under Governor Schweiker, reorganized and successfully implemented for the 2005 BRAC by Governor Rendell and recreated by Governor Corbett. In December 2014, Act No. 161 (House Bill 1550) codified this effort in its current form, the Pennsylvania Military Community Enhancement Commission. (PMCEC)

The mission of the PMCEC is to assist the Governor in the enhancement of the military value of an advocacy for all installations organizations, and defense-related stakeholders in the commonwealth. The commission consists of Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack, serving as Commission Chairman, two senators, two representatives, a senior military commissioner, a commissioner focused on economic development, and one commissioner for each of the ten major military installations and organizations in the state.

The four legislative commissioners, currently Senators Alloway and Blake and Representatives Miccarelli and Readshaw, also serve as the co-chairs of the Military Installation and Base Development Caucus (MIBDC). The MIBDC plays a crucial role in advancing this effort in the legislature and engaging with the installations and organizations within the members’ districts.

The volunteers who serve as our military commissioners are an extraordinarily qualified and experienced group. Most are senior level retired military or executive service, some served at the installation they currently represent and all have significant time invested into this cause. The

credibility they bring to this initiative is a crucial element to our success.

It has been our experience that the local community surrounding each installation is crucial to the enhancement and success of that installation. Three of our ten installations are the largest employer in their host counties. The economic impact is immense and the motivation to help is powerful. The commission works hand-in-hand with organizations called local defense groups, formed specifically around this cause and composed of county and local officials, installation staff, academia, the local business community and military personnel and retirees. Each commissioner works closely with their respective local defense group and all operate with the trust and cooperation of the command group at their installation.

Local defense groups provide on the ground implementation of the commission’s strategy and action plan. A significant portion of the commission’s budget is devoted to financially supporting their efforts. Grant funds have been/are being used to address major encroachment and security concerns, fund physical development to installations to expand mission capability, to coordinate public-private partnerships, work with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on environmental issues, and strengthen the knowledge in local communities of the value of their local military installation(s), through sound economic research.

The Department of Defense (DoD) faces strenuous budgetary challenges. Personnel and pension costs, rising energy costs, procurement, and the unpredictable tempo of military action have created an erratic and challenging budgetary environment. Coupled with congressional action through the Budget Control Act and sequestration, the DoD is aggressively seeking cost-savings. The strategic needs of the military limit the extent to which cost savings can be found in personnel, focusing attention on facilities.

The Department of Defense continues to request a new BRAC round. The new Congress and administration seems to be more amenable to possible BRAC as soon as 2019. Federal Fiscal Year 2019 seems to be the best chance for that to occur. With each denied BRAC request, the DoD grows increasingly desperate for cuts. There is no

PA House Hearings from Page

question as to whether there will be another BRAC, the question is when.

With or without the authorization for a BRAC, the services do possess the power to move equipment, gradually reduce manpower and eventually, functionally close an installation. The 911th in Pittsburgh has faced several of these types of non-BRAC actions and are a prime example of the need for constant attention to these issues, with or without a scheduled BRAC.

Pennsylvania’s thirteen military installations are “economic engines” in their local communities/regions providing excellent family-sustaining, career-enhancing, and in most cases, highly skilled, jobs. These jobs are irreplaceable, or can only be replaced after long painful transition periods.

There are two key methods to resisting closure: first, to preemptively address vulnerabilities that might negatively impact an assessment when the decision is being made as to which installations to close and to assists in growing the military value of the installation through expanded mission capability and public-private partnerships to increase savings and efficiencies. The second is to demonstrate that the data used by DoD in the decision-making process is flawed. To this end, we also financially support research and studies on economic impact; efficiency; joint-land use; and strength, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis at the installation/community level. In the meantime, a state-wide SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and Economic Impact Study is being done to bring the state-wide impact of the military into ready focus.

Nothing about this effort is rapid response. These are long term projects to permanently address long term concerns. We are working to bridge two large and inflexible institutions: state government and the United States military; time is our best asset. The current impact of the defense sector in Pennsylvania totals 151,272 jobs and $24 billion into the Pennsylvania economy. Given what is at stake and the immense cost of time and money to redevelop a facility, the value of this program is significant. Your support of this effort through this budget cycle, through the Military Installation and Base Development Caucus, and in your districts helps us send a powerful message to the Department of Defense that Pennsylvania is

engaged and prepared.Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes my

presentation. I appreciate the opportunity to brief you on the Pennsylvania Military Community Enhancement Commission. I am prepared to answer any questions that you may have.

Attachment:Local Defense Groups and related Installations:1. Blue Ribbon Task Force/NEPA (Northeast PA

alliance)a. Tobyhanna Army Depot2. Cumberland-York Area Local Defense

Group/Cumberland Area Economic Development Council.

a. Carlisle Barracks/US Army War College/Army Heritage & Education Center

b. DLA – Susquehanna (New Cumberland)c. NSA – Mechanicsburg3. Lebanon County Commissionersa. Fort Indiantown Gap – National Guard4. Military Affairs Council of Western PAa. 911th Air Force Reserve Airlift Wingb. 316th Sustainment Commandc. 171st Air Refueling Wing5. Philadelphia Industrial Development

Corporation (PIDC)a. The Navy Yard Annexb. NSA – Philadelphiac. 111th Fighter Wing6. Team Letterkenny/Franklin County Area

Development Corporationa. Letterkenny Arm Depot/Munitions CenterPennsylvania’s thirteen military installations are

“economic engines” in their local communities/regions providing excellent family-sustaining, career-enhancing, and in most cases, highly skilled, jobs. These jobs are irreplaceable, or can only be replaced after long painful transition periods.

For example: the 1991 BRAC round, closed the Philadelphia Shipyard. It employed nearly 11,000 people. By 2013, the Navy Yard was successfully redeveloped into a dynamic multi-use business campus with 143 companies, employing, once more, 11,000 people. It took 25 years and over $300 million in state investment to recoup the loss of employment suffered by Philadelphia at the hands of BRAC. A strong ongoing investment now can prevent such painful cataclysms.