Sponsors (5)
Introduced November 4, 2025 by Robert P. Bresnahan · Last progress November 4, 2025
The bill expands and preserves a tax-valued benefit for volunteer emergency responders — including extending access to non-itemizers and indexing it for inflation — in order to support local volunteer services, while reducing federal revenue and adding compliance burdens and limits that may shortchange the most active volunteers.
Volunteer first responders (firefighters, EMS, rescue, ambulance, Civil Air Patrol, search-and-rescue) — including low-income/non-itemizing taxpayers — can claim $20 per hour (up to 300 hours) as a tax-valued charitable contribution, expanding access to the tax incentive to volunteers who do not itemize.
Local volunteer-reliant emergency services and nonprofits (e.g., volunteer fire departments, rescue squads) gain more predictable support and an improved tool for recruitment and retention because volunteer time is explicitly recognized with a tax-valued benefit.
The $20 hourly valuation is indexed for inflation after 2026, preserving the real value of the tax benefit for volunteers over time.
All taxpayers — the federal budget — the deduction reduces federal revenue, which could increase deficits or require spending cuts or offsets elsewhere.
Small volunteer departments and nonprofits will face new verification and certification requirements for volunteer hours, creating administrative burden and compliance costs that may be difficult for resource-constrained organizations.
Highly active volunteers are limited by the $20/hour cap and 300-hour annual cap, which may undervalue extensive volunteer commitments and provide little benefit to the most time-intensive volunteers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Values qualifying volunteer emergency-service hours at $20/hr (indexed after 2026) up to 300 hrs/year and lets non-itemizers claim an equivalent deduction.
Treats volunteer emergency service time as a deductible charitable contribution by valuing specified volunteer services at $20 per hour (adjusted for inflation after 2026), capped at 300 hours per volunteer per year, with verification rules. Also creates a comparable deduction option for non-itemizers so volunteers who don't itemize can still receive the tax benefit; the change applies to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.