Committee hears bill to let Missoula Airport public‑safety officers join firefighters’ retirement plan

Representative Mark Thane introduced House Bill 640, which would amend Montana Code to allow airport authority public safety officers who serve as both full‑time firefighters and sworn peace officers to participate in the Firefighters Unified Retirement System (FERS). The bill applies specifically to 15 employees at the Missoula Airport Authority, Thane said, and was drafted with the Montana Airport Managers Association.

William Hollahan, executive director of the Montana Public Employee Retirement Administration, told the committee the FERS plan remains actuarially sound and that board actuaries concluded adding roughly 13–15 members would not negatively affect the system’s funded ratio or amortization timeline. “Our board’s actuaries determined that there would not be a negative actuarial impact,” Hollahan said, and urged the committee to give the bill a do‑pass recommendation.

Representatives of the Montana Professional Firefighters, airport directors and multiple Missoula Airport public safety officers testified in support, describing the dual nature of their duties. Evan Eschman, a Missoula public safety officer, told the committee his duties include aircraft rescue, law‑enforcement calls and emergency medical response. “At 34 years old, I cannot imagine performing these duties at 65,” Eschman said, arguing a 20‑year benefit formula would improve recruitment, retention and safety.

Airport director Brian Ellestad and Helena Regional Airport director Jeff Wadekamper said the change targets Missoula because of its unique staffing model now, but could apply to other airports if they adopted similar dual‑role structures. Committee members pressed staff about the missing fiscal note; MPERA and proponents said the expectation is the additional payroll contributions from new members would fund their benefits and would not require additional state liabilities that would harm the trust fund.

Lawmakers also asked about members who previously accrued service in PERS; Hollahan described an actuarial account‑coordination process to convert prior PERS service to FERS credit, but warned individual results would depend on actuarial calculations. Representative Mark Thane closed asking for a due pass; later in the meeting the committee advanced the bill in executive action with the fiscal note still in progress.

The bill’s next steps: executive action passed it out of committee but a fiscal note must be finalized before the bill can be reported to the House floor.