AN ACT relating to compensation and benefits; authorizing firefighters to participate in retirement system plans as specified; providing appropriations; requiring rulemaking; specifying implementation; and providing for effective dates.
Summary
HB0034 expands eligibility in the Wyoming Retirement Act for certain public-safety workers by adding firefighters to the retirement system definitions. Specifically, it defines “firefighter member” to include full-time employees of a Wyoming National Guard fire department crash and rescue unit and full-time or temporary full-time wildland firefighting personnel employed by a state agency. The bill also clarifies that covered correctional forestry and wildland firefighting employees may begin participation in the firefighter member category on July 1, 2026, unless they choose to remain in the general retirement plan.
The act requires the Wyoming Retirement Board and the Office of State Lands and Investments to adopt rules to implement the new coverage and sets an election deadline of April 30, 2026 for eligible employees who want to stay in the general member plan. It also limits how prior service credit from other retirement plans may be counted toward firefighter or law enforcement service credit under this act. The bill takes effect July 1, 2026, with the implementation provisions effective immediately upon enactment.
Impact
HB0034 amends Wyoming retirement statutes in W.S. 9-3-402 to broaden the category of employees eligible for firefighter retirement benefits and to align retirement coverage for certain state-employed wildland firefighting and crash-and-rescue personnel. It also appropriates $411,000 from the general fund to the Office of State Lands and Investments for retirement contributions associated with the new coverage, with the funds available for the 2026-2028 biennium. The bill imposes administrative duties on the Wyoming Retirement Board and the Office of State Lands and Investments to promulgate rules and manage employee elections, and it affects retirement contributions, service credit treatment, and benefit classification for the covered workers.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial in the Legislature. It advanced with unanimous or near-unanimous votes in both chambers and committee, including a 7-0 committee recommendation in the House, a 61-0 House passage, a 2-1 Senate committee recommendation, and a 30-0 Senate passage. The voting history suggests general agreement that the affected workers should receive firefighter retirement treatment and that the associated funding and implementation provisions were acceptable.
Contention
There is little evidence of major opposition in the available record. The only notable point of contention is the fiscal impact: the bill requires a specific general fund appropriation to cover retirement contributions, which likely explains why it was routed through appropriations committees. Another potential issue is the scope of eligibility—particularly the inclusion of temporary full-time wildland firefighting employees and the treatment of correctional forestry personnel—but the recorded votes do not show significant disagreement on those points.