The Executive Board has elected Thomas Miller to replace long time Secretary Treasurer Vinny Bollon. Vinny recently retired and Miller will serve in the position for the remainder of the term. Miller is well respected and should do a great job for fire fighters. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT TOMMY MILLER.

January 13th marks the opening day for the Sixty-Seventh General Assembly for the State of Colorado.  This is also Brothers Clapham and Eulberg first session  as the lobbyists for the CPFF. There are several issues that impact fire fighters this session. CLICK HEADLINE TO READ THE BILLS.

 

The Whitehouse reached an agreement with labor to avoid the proposed excise tax on health care. The deal would exclude  not apply to policies covering workers in collective bargaining agreements, state and local workers and members of voluntary employee benefit associations through Dec. 31, 2017.The excise tax is still part of the reform package but it could allinate middle class voters and will be a big threat to fire fighters in the future. The IAFF stands firmly against the excise tax as a means to pay for the much needed reforms. The IAFF has been the lone union to stand against leaving the excise tax as part of the package. If we are going to reform healthcare it should be done carefully and should not pander to individual interests.

Healthcare Reform is taking a nasty turn in the Untied States Senate. It appears that the funding mechanism for the plan is to utilize an excise tax pay for the reforms. The Obama administration seems to be in support of these massive tax increases which could cause firefighters across the United States to pay huge increases in taxes or more likely suffer massive cuts in benefits to avoid losing disposable income. Obamas support flies in the face of campiagn promises of not increasing taxes on those making less than $250,000, not taxing our health insurance benefits, and allowing us to keep exisiting coverage.

The IAFF is angered at this move and will hold endorsed politicians accountable. 

CLICK HERE TO READ PRESIDENT SHAITBERGER'S LETTER 

Governor Ritter decided suddenly to withdraw from his bid for a second term. He quit citing family as being a priority.  Without a doubt he faced a tough fight and his polling numbers were not as good as his opponent. Fire fighters can only hope that the next governor does what he says and helps us accomplish collective bargaining for fire fighters in Colorado. Some potential candidates will be Ed Perlmutter, Ken Salazar, & maybe even John Hickenlooper. No matter who prevails it will be critical that they support working families and fire fighters as Colorado needs some major improvements in these areas.

The Colorado Avalanche has teamed up with the Denver FireFighters Burn Fund again for the 3rd annual Hockey Night fundraiser. Thank you for your tremendous support in the past, and we hope that your members can help us out again this season. We were able to raise over $5,000.00 in the first two years for the Children’s Hospital Burn Unit, because of the generosity of Colorado FireFighters. Please contact George Baker for tickets, more information, or questions at 303-324-7207 or CLICK HERE to email.

The IAFF will be working overtime to make sure the Senate's version of the Healthcare Bill is changed.  The Senate's version taxes working people who recieve the so called "Cadilac health plans", these are the modest plans that we fire fighters have today.  This taxation would start in 2019 and would have the result of crushing benefits or causing massive tax increases to over 25 million working families. The IAFF will push for the House version of the bill to ensure that once again working people do not pick up the tab.

On December 30th the Littleton fire fighters lost a good friend, Battalion Chief Jeff Christ.  Jeff was a good person and people loved being around him, unfortunately he lost his battle with brain cancer,  CPFF members all know Jeff as a champion who worked hard to establish the fair treatment of fire fighters under the presumptive cancer law in Colorado. His case was one of the first in the state and he made huge strides in ensuring that Colorado's fire fighters got the treatment they deserved form preforming their dangerous duties.  Jeff will be missed and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all of our Littleton brothers & sisters.