Received, reviewed and distributed via email to committee members, the lates 43 page Legislative Tracking Report prepared by our lobbying firm. This report contained 136 entries, consisting of:
67 House Bills
38 Senate Bills
23 House Circulating Memos
6 Senate Circulating Memos
1 House Resolution
1 Senate Resolution
This report contains a summary of the bill, the prime sponsor as well as a history of the bill and information relative to any amendments made.
Also received, reviewed and distributed an emailed report regarding recently moved pieces of legislation containing 8 entries, consisting of:
4 House Bills (=5.9% of House public safety bills)
4 Senate Bills (=17% of Senate public safety bills)
Only one bill HB767 was enacted into law the reporting period, Act 11 of 2026 on May 6th which removed the prohibition on spouses of deceased City of Pittsburgh Firefighters from receiving survivor pension benefits if they remarry.
Several bills have passed one chamber and are awaiting disposition in the other chamber.
SB1261 passed the Senate and was reported from the House VA&EP Committee on 6/30. It would increase the Fire & EMS Loan Program limits, and requires that no protective equipment purchased with loan funds may contain PFAS, It increases the period for loans above $300,000.00 to 30 years. It removes the Firefighter I incentive and makes changes to the administrative requirements for a fire company to receive a grant award under the program. It would allow the Fire Commissioner to establish a certification bonus point system to award additional grants to companies.
Note: This bill was not consistent with recommendations made to modify either the grant or loan program by the PFAB, and the change in the administrative requirements has been opposed by some fire companies. I wrote to Commissioner Cook about that issue. His reply was “Currently the Single Application System cannot perform a large percentage of the functions required to process our grants. The legislation does not require a switch it just says we shall use the Single Application to the greatest extent possible. Until we get over $100K to have IT program the software changes a switch is unlikely. The ED’s of the VA&EP Committees have been advised of the constraints we are under.”
SB1053 passed the Senate and was reported by from the House Labor and Industry Committee on 4/28. It would amend the Workers Compensation Act to clarify coverage for volunteer emergency services members engaged in organized fund raising activities.
HB2087 passed the House and was referred to the Senate Labor & Industry Committee on 4/23. It extends Workers Compensation benefits to volunteer emergency responders while engaged in organized fundraising activities.
We have been advocating reform to the Fire Relief Program for a number of years, and the PFAB adopted reform recommendations, which we have circulated several times, back several years ago. We have been advised that members of the General Assembly and the Pennsylvania Auditor General will host a series of regional Volunteer Fire Relief Association (VFRA) events this summer and fall to provide volunteer firefighters, relief association officers, municipal officials and department leaders an opportunity to discuss current issues impacting relief associations, review best practices, and ask questions directly of state officials. Events schedule so far (more sessions and locations may be added) are:
Tuesday 8/25/26 Rep. Picket
Brafford County Department of Public Safety
29 VanKuren Drive
Towanda, Pa. 18848
Wednesday 9/2/26 Rep. Rigby
Penn Highlands Community College
Johnstown, Pa. 15904
Thursday 9/18/26 Sen. Rothman
Hampden Township Fire Company
295 S. Sporting Hill Rd.
Mechanicsburg, Pa. 17050
Our lobbying firm has represented us at a number of hearings, both House and Senate. Committee member Bob Timko attended two of them, one House and one Senate, and called me to report how impressed he was with the professionalism he witnessed by our One Strategies representatives