Sponsors, firefighters push 42-hour overtime threshold; counties warn of costs

Delegate Jared Solomon presented House Bill 205, which would require clearer wage and payroll information for firefighters and set a statewide overtime threshold of 42 hours for career firefighters, applied prospectively to new collective bargaining agreements. "This is a bill... to make sure, frankly, that firefighters get what anybody else who has a job, get. It's clear information on your wage, your hours, your pay periods, and all of your pay stubs," Solomon said, adding the measure would not apply to volunteers.

Solomon and union witnesses described federal law that sets a 56-hour firefighter overtime standard and said many Maryland jurisdictions already use a 42-hour threshold; the bill would make 42 hours the minimum statewide standard for career firefighters prospectively and would not change employers' ability to set schedules. Jeff Puddle, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Maryland, said the measure would make overtime thresholds consistent statewide and called for fairness: "We just feel as though that the firefighters across the state should all be treated equally and fairly, and that's what this bill does."

Multiple career firefighter union leaders testified in favor and described staffing, retention and mandatory-overtime problems that they said the bill would address. Witnesses emphasized the bill does not mandate schedules or alter existing collective bargaining agreements in force as of the bill’s effective date (the sponsor said October 1, 2025, as the effective date in testimony).

The Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) testified in respectful opposition, saying the bill would preempt local bargaining authority and could impose large costs on counties through overtime and paid‑time‑off calculations that would count toward overtime. MACo estimated potential costs in the millions — witness testimony cited figures such as $10 to $12 million collectively for counties — and emphasized the bill could require overtime pay for paid time off, which they called unsustainable.

Committee members questioned witnesses on the choice of 42 hours (versus 40) and on how the rule would interact with mixed volunteer/professional systems; proponents said 42 was chosen as the least disruptive standard that matched the majority of jurisdictions and typical 24‑hour shift math. The hearing closed with testimony on both sides; the transcript records no committee vote.