Federal Firefighters Families First Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Federal Firefighters Families First Act aims to improve federal firefighter pay parity, recruitment, retention, retirement calculations, and workweek rules. For firefighters subject to 5 U.S.C. 5545b, average pay for CSRS and FERS annuity purposes must include, in addition to the normal basic pay amount, an amount equal to one-half of the firefighter’s basic hourly rate multiplied by the number of overtime hours included in the firefighter’s regular tour of duty during the relevant year or period of creditable service. The bill also requires the Office of Personnel Management, within one year, to prescribe regulations setting the maximum number of regularly recurring hours in a federal firefighter workweek, capped at an average of 60 hours per week.
Who Benefits and How
Federal firefighters, surviving spouses receiving firefighter-based annuities, firefighter families, federal fire service recruiters, and agencies trying to retain firefighters benefit from higher annuity-creditable pay and a defined workweek ceiling.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Office of Personnel Management, federal fire agencies, payroll offices, retirement administrators, CSRS, FERS, and federal taxpayers must update annuity calculations, payroll data, retirement systems, and workweek regulations.
Key Provisions
- Modifies federal firefighter annuity average pay to include one-half the basic hourly rate times regularly scheduled overtime hours.
- Applies the average-pay adjustment to CSRS and FERS firefighter annuity calculations.
- Requires OPM within one year to regulate a maximum federal firefighter regular workweek.
- Limits the maximum regularly recurring federal firefighter workweek to an average of 60 hours.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Changes federal firefighter pay and retirement calculations by counting one-half of the firefighter’s basic hourly rate times regularly scheduled overtime hours in average pay for CSRS and FERS annuities, and requires OPM within one year to set a maximum federal firefighter regular workweek not exceeding an average of 60 hours.
Key Policy Areas
Labor, Federal Workforce, Retirement, Public Safety
Primary Purpose
Changes federal firefighter pay and retirement calculations by counting one-half of the firefighter’s basic hourly rate times regularly scheduled overtime hours in average pay for CSRS and FERS annuities, and requires OPM within one year to set a maximum federal firefighter regular workweek not exceeding an average of 60 hours.
Policy Domains
Bill-wide scope
Identified Gains
- Federal firefighters
- Surviving spouses receiving firefighter-based annuities
- Firefighter families
- Federal fire service recruiters
Identified Costs
- Office of Personnel Management
- Federal fire agencies
- Payroll offices
- Retirement administrators
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Mr. Walkinshaw asked unanimous consent that …
Mr. Connolly (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Garcia of California, …
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal fire agencies, Federal fire service recruiters, Office of Personnel Management
Positive-direction: Federal fire service recruiters
Negative-direction: Federal fire agencies, Office of Personnel Management, Payroll offices, Retirement administrators
Surviving spouses receiving firefighter-based annuities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "OPM"
- → Office of Personnel Management
- "primary_beneficiaries"
- → Federal firefighters, Surviving spouses receiving firefighter-based annuities, Firefighter families, Federal fire service recruiters
- "primary_burden_bearers"
- → Office of Personnel Management, Federal fire agencies, Payroll offices, Retirement administrators, Federal taxpayers
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology