2026 Legislative Update

The Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement (LCPR) heard two proposals related to relief association vesting requirements and emergency medical providers. The LCPR adopted language that, if passed into law, will create a temporary work group for the purpose of recommending legislation to:

  1. Shorten the vesting schedule for relief associations to a maximum of ten years;
  2. Require that relief associations include volunteer or paid on-call emergency medical providers as members on the same basis as volunteer or paid on-call firefighters; and
  3. Make the same changes to the PERA Statewide Volunteer Firefighter Plan as are recommended for relief associations.

The LCPR is planning to hold a final meeting to compile the 2026 Omnibus Pension and Retirement Bill. We anticipate the Fire Relief Association Working Group provisions approved in March and the temporary Work Group described above will both be included. Working Group proposals included in the bill would:

  • Increase the audit threshold to $1 million in either special fund assets or liabilities, for consistency with thresholds for other types of local governments.
  • Allow relief associations that drop below the audit threshold to revert to an agreed-upon procedures engagement instead of maintaining the audit requirement.
  • Rewrite and clarify provisions governing service credit for firefighters who resume active fire department service after retirement or a break in service.
  • Update definitions so they include service performed by volunteer emergency medical personnel.

Another proposal approved by the LCPR that was not initiated by the Working Group but supported by the OSA would clarify how benefits are calculated when a relief association dissolves and terminates its retirement plan. The proposal would remove references to "present value" when calculating benefit amounts.

Last Updated April 2026