Bill To Increase Number of Volunteer Firefighters Passes House

OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill that would allow firefighters to return to service as volunteers after retiring from paid service but without affecting their state pensions passed the House unopposed today.

House Bill 2051, authored by House majority leader Mike Sanders (R-59, Kingfisher) passed the House with a vote of 97-0 and now moves to the state Senate.

“Our rural fire departments depend on volunteers to keep our citizens and their properties safe,” Sanders said via a written statement. “This law will help those who are ready and willing to serve do so without damage to their pensions or added cost to the state.”

H.B. 2051 amends language within previous legislation that eliminated the 45-year-old age limit for new firefighters by denying the right of applicants above that age to join the state’s pension plan. As a result of that legislation, which took effect in November 2015, 300 new volunteer firefighters joining rural fire departments over the past 3½ years.

The new legislation will allow retired firefighters to perform as volunteers for a volunteer firefighting department without the new position affecting their current retirement benefit and also without it counting as an accrued retirement benefit against the state’s pension plan.

“State law previously prohibited willing volunteers over the age of 45 from becoming firefighters because the state’s pension and retirement plan simply could not afford them,” Sanders said. “Many, however, said they would be willing to serve without needing the retirement benefit. This amendment will allow trained and seasoned but retired firefighters to participate in protecting the states rural fire districts without affecting funding for other core government services.”

Sanders stated that approximately 85 percent of the firefighters in Oklahoma are volunteers. Of the state’s more than 900 fire departments, some 95 percent are certified with the Rural Fire Defense Program.

In a letter accompanying the bill Thomas Cummins, a consulting actuary deemed the bill as ‘non fiscal’ (revenue neutral) as, “It does not contain a benefit increase or increase the liability of the system.”

H.B. 2051 was co-authored by Rep. Brad Boles (R-51, Chickasha), passed the House 97-0 and moves to the Senate for further consideration. The bill’s progress there will be led by Sen. Casey Murdock (R-27, Woodward, Guymon), the principal Senate co-author.