Illinois Valley Times

State Rep. Dan Swanson (R-Alpha) spoke in support of new legislation that would classify emergency medical dispatchers as first responders during a news conference in mid-April.

Senate Bill 3127 (SB 3127) advanced through both the Senate and the House unanimously with bipartisan support, according to the Illinois General Assembly. The bill would amend several state laws involving emergency medical dispatchers and would categorize them as first responders.

"I am a retired veteran of the Army National Guard and the United States Army," Swanson said. "I'm the chief sponsor of Senate Bill 3127. I want to first thank Sen. [Neil] Anderson (R-Springfield) first for his service as a firefighter and for his service to the people of Illinois – first responder and as a state senator. Sen. Anderson and I have passed several pieces of legislation, and I'm grateful for that team effort that we have between the Senate and the House. I was proud to join Sen. Anderson in guiding Senate Bill 3127 through the legislative process. The House and Senate both passed it with unanimous support.

"I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our Public Safety dispatches across the state for their resiliency, resourcefulness, and most especially their composure," Swanson continued. "It is fitting that we are discussing this legislation during this National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. These are essential workers that help residents and first responders through their most critical moments. They help save countless lives and help people from every walk of life navigate through the most traumatic of times.

"There is a shortage of these employees, as there's a shortage of many first responders," Swanson said. "My hope is that as we shine a light and give thanks and appreciation to their important work, more people would be called to serve. Where we can help facilitate more people being interested in this kind of life-saving work with legislative action, we should. I'm proud to report that we are taking these steps in the state of Illinois by passing this legislation. There's more work to do, but today we pause and thank our telecommunications and first responders and thank our colleagues in the General Assembly for their support."

SB 3127 was sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Neil Anderson, Darren Bailey, Robert Martwick, Patrick Joyce, Win Stoller, Sue Rezin, Terri Bryant, Brian Stewart, and Dale Fowler, the General Assembly reported. In the House, it was sponsored by Reps. Dan Swanson, Tony McCombie, Lance Yednock, Jackie Haas, Tim Ozinga, Norine Hammond, Jonathan Carroll, Amy Elik, Charlie Meier, and Avery Bourne.

The bill was introduced in the Senate on Jan. 11. It went to the House on Feb. 23 and advanced in the House on March 30. It then returned to the Senate for approval of an amendment. SB 3127 now awaits the governor's signature.