AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE DEVENS FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in line 449, the following words:- , members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 2. Section 3 of chapter 32 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in line 303, as so appearing, the following words:- ; members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 3. Section 94 of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in lines 14 and 15, the following words:- , members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 4. Section 94A of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in line 9, the following words:- , members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 5. Section 94B of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in line 11, the following words:- , members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 6. Section 100 of said chapter 32, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-
For purposes of this section, the word “firefighter” shall include members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 7. Section 100A of said chapter 32, as amended by section 9 of chapter 5 of the acts of 2017, is hereby further amended by adding the following subsection:-
(j) This section shall apply to members of the Devens fire department, established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993, who are killed in the line of duty.
SECTION 8. The first paragraph of section 111F of chapter 41 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- This section shall also apply to any permanent crash crewman, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, members of the 104th fighter wing fire department and members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993 and, for the purposes of this section, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Massachusetts Military Reservation, the Barnes Air National Guard Base and the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone established pursuant to said chapter 498 shall be fire districts.
SECTION 9. Section 1 of chapter 148 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in line 9, the first time it appears, the following words:- , the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 10. Section 30A of chapter 149 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “department”, in line 31, the following words:- ; members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993.
SECTION 11. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, firefighters of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993 shall be considered public employees under chapter 150E of the General Laws and may organize to negotiate the wages, hours and conditions of their employment. This section shall not apply to the fire chief and deputy chief of the Devens fire department.
SECTION 12. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, for overtime purposes only, firefighters of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993 may be classified as so-called “7(k) eligible” under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 207(k).
SECTION 13. This act shall take effect as of October 15, 2017.