H181 - First Responders Act of 2017

• Allows volunteer firefighters and rescue squad workers to deduct $250 from North Carolina taxable income if they attended at least 36 hours of drills, training, and meetings during the taxable year, effective for tax years beginning January 1, 2017.

• Provides property tax homestead exclusion for surviving spouses of emergency personnel (firefighters, rescue workers, emergency medical services personnel, and law enforcement officers) killed in the line of duty who have not remarried, effective for taxes imposed on or after July 1, 2017.

• Authorizes company police officers and certain hospital security personnel commissioned under Chapter 74E to take persons into custody for mental health examination when ordered by a clerk or magistrate.

• Creates Class E, F, and H felony offenses for assaults against emergency personnel, including a Class E felony for luring emergency responders to a location through false emergency calls with intent to harm them, effective December 1, 2017.

• Allows emergency medical services personnel deployed for tactical medical assistance with law enforcement to carry concealed weapons while on duty if they complete an approved tactical medical training course that includes firearms safety and instruction on use of deadly force.

• Requires the Department of Transportation to study interstate system access needs for law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel, with report due March 1, 2018.