Committee orders actuarial study after approving higher municipal contributions for firefighters pension

Senate Bill 715, which would raise the municipal employer contribution rate to the Oklahoma State Firefighters Pension System from 14% to 16%, was retained by the committee and sent for an actuarial study.

Senator Pro Tem Paxton presented the bill and said past legislative benefit increases have strained the system and the change is intended to identify how to restore fiscal balance. "We need this in an actuarial because we do need to know what the fiscal impact is," Paxton said. He described the measure as a step toward funding benefits previously awarded by the legislature.

Committee members asked whether past appeals and functions of entities such as the Merit Protection Commission had been absorbed elsewhere; Paxton and staff said related duties had been transferred and that the pension system remains the most poorly funded among the state’s seven systems, at roughly 70 percent funded in 2024.

Paxton explained how the firefighters pension is funded: municipal contributions, employer contributions, and a share of the insurance premium tax. He said the system received about $34 million from firefighters, $54 million from cities, and roughly $140 million from the insurance premium tax in a recent year. The proposed change would raise the municipal share (the city contribution) from 14% to 16%, but Paxton said the committee needs actuarial analysis to estimate the dollar impact.

The committee voted unanimously to keep the bill as property of the committee and to forward it to an actuarial study. Senator Paxton said a clerical error in the original filing had mistakenly shifted a 2% increase onto employees; the committee sub corrects that intent to place the increase on employers.

The actuarial study will quantify the fiscal impact and inform future consideration and potential subsequent legislation.