H.23 An act relating to benefits for survivors of emergency personnel
Introduced by Rep. Will Stevens, (D-Shoreham), and others, this legislation looks to avert the kind of financial hardship suffered by the family of a firefighter who was killed while aiding the victim of a car accident.
Peter Coe, a Shoreham firefighter, was driving home with his family shortly after Christmas in 2009 when he saw a vehicle off the road and stopped to render aid. He was killed when a separate car slid off the road and struck him.
The family’s insurance company failed to provide immediate financial assistance, and because Coe was killed in an off-duty incident, the family was unable to access a state-subsidized “survivors fund” created to help the families of killed emergency workers.
Shoreham says the bill would avoid similar situations in the future by making the fund available to the families of emergency killed while “rendering aid … in accordance with the standard operating procedures or guidelines of a department, even if not called by the department.”
Introduced by Rep. Carolyn Partridge (D-Windham), this legislation would create new criminal sanctions for people who attempt to “terrify, intimidate … or annoy another person” by posting “false and defamatory” messages on the websites.
The bill responds to concerns among some of Partridge’s constituents about the use of one newspaper’s online websites as a forum for accusations and slander.
Under the guise of anonymity, Partridge says, people are free to publicize hurtful and often baseless claims without revealing their identities. The practice, she says, has had social consequences.
“There have been some resignations on the selectboard because people just didn’t want to be harassed anymore,” she says.
Partridge says she’s mindful of protecting people’s First Amendment rights, but that lawmakers need to have a conversation about the questionable use of new technologies to air defamatory language. She says she’s hoping to start a conversation about the issue and thinks lawmakers could find a way to address some of the problems without resorting to actual legislation.
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