Sponsors (78)
The bill improves federal recognition and data about 911 telecommunicators—helping long-term planning, training, and potential targeted programs—but it does not itself provide funding and risks rushed implementation and short-term data disruption.
Public safety telecommunicators (911 dispatchers) would be officially classified as protective-service workers, giving them clearer federal recognition and improving the accuracy of occupational data about this workforce.
Local governments and emergency-response agencies would get more accurate SOC data to plan staffing and resource needs for emergency response.
Telecommunicators could become eligible for more targeted training, support, and mental-health resources over time by being aligned administratively with other protective-service occupations.
Telecommunicators may receive recognition without any immediate new funding, benefits, or pay changes, so expectations for material improvements could go unmet.
A rapid 30-day deadline to implement the reclassification could strain OMB and other agencies, producing a rushed or technical classification with limited stakeholder input.
Changing occupational codes could create short-term disruption in data series, complicating trend analysis and planning for researchers and local governments.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Reclassifies public safety telecommunicators as Protective Service Occupations in the federal Standard Occupational Classification system within 30 days of enactment.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Norma Judith Torres · Last progress January 22, 2025
Requires the Office of Management and Budget to reclassify public safety telecommunicators (911 dispatchers and similar emergency call handlers) as a Protective Service occupation in the federal Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. The change must be made within 30 days of enactment. The bill cites the stressful, traumatic nature of telecommunicator work and says the reclassification will better align PSTs with related occupations for statistical, planning, and workforce purposes.