Gov. takes hypocritical stand over first responders

Veto of HB 157 ignores the statistics showing that 22% of firefighters suffer from PTSD

Gov. Susana Martinez’s veto of HB 157 demonstrates not only her hyperpartisanship, but her utter disregard for the hardships our first responders face on a daily basis.

As a 20-year career firefighter, I read with shock and dismay that Martinez had vetoed a bill that would have added Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to the Firefighter Occupational Disease Act for N.M. firefighters previously signed into law by then-Gov. Bill Richardson. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Debbie Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, Sarah Maestas-Barnes, R-Albuquerque, and Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, would have enabled N.M. firefighters to seek out, identify and obtain medical treatment for chronic and repetitive mental stressors sustained as a result of the continued exposure to critical incidents over an extensive, long-term career in the fire service. HB 157 was passed with wide bipartisan support in both houses, by a 54-14 vote in the House and a 25-11 vote in the Senate.

None of this seems to matter to Martinez, unfortunately. For someone who constantly complains about the partisan nature of politics in Santa Fe, I find it remarkably hypocritical that she would then veto this legislation. In her letter to House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, explaining her rationale, the governor pays lip service to “our brave first responders who protect our safety and well-being without regard to their own” while then claiming the bill “places too great a burden on our cities and counties by changing workers’ compensation laws.” This is nonsensical at best and at worst a deliberate falsehood driven by nothing more than craven partisanship. Martinez also expresses concern that medical costs for firefighters suffering from PTSD would be paid “even if that firefighter had not developed the condition as a result of his or her time as a firefighter ... . ” It would have been prudent for the governor to try and educate herself on the insidious, cumulative and chronic nature of PTSD in the fire service before making an outrageous statement such as this. It is an affront to me personally, and to my brothers and sisters who do such a tremendously difficult job, day in and day out.

A study of a large population of U.S. professional firefighters reported rates of PTSD at more than 22 percent, nearly one in four. According to the CDC, suicide rates among the general U.S. population are 13 deaths per 100,000. For those in “protective services” (police and fire), that rate skyrockets to 34 per 100,000. Firefighters are at greater risk for suicide, depression, divorce, cancer and substance abuse than the general population of this country, and yet the governor ignores these statistics in lieu of a theoretical circumstance created in her imagination to justify the unjustifiable; namely, vetoing bipartisan legislation that would provide the aid and assistance our N.M. firefighters need and deserve. Paraphrasing a politician from long ago,“Have you no shame, Gov. Martinez?”