Rory Diamond returned to Jacksonville City Council last week after an eight month deployment serving in the Army – and quickly proposed legislation to provide broader financial support to city and JEA employees called away for service.
The legislation, called the “Jacksonville Heroes Act” will not affect elected officials, Diamond told the Times-Union Wednesday. It will, however, expand the amount of time deployed city, JEA, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department employees are paid while deployed.
Diamond called the legislation unique to Jacksonville because of the additional benefits it will give the spouses of deployed employees. He plans to send the legislation to other major cities and local companies to encourage them to take similar action.
“This is about setting a standard for the entire country,” Diamond said Wednesday at a press conference. “So when this bill passes, and it will pass, we are sending it to every single big city in America and challenging them to meet us where we are.”