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Bill to add EMS‑only personnel into local fire relief funds advances to layover after auditors and chiefs urge more study
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Summary
Senator Seaburger’s bill would require fire relief associations to include EMS personnel employed by fire departments; the commission adopted a clarifying amendment but laid the bill over after state auditors and fire chiefs flagged funding and implementation issues.
Senator Seaburger introduced Senate File 4766 (with House companion HF4723) to require fire relief associations to include EMS‑only personnel who serve on a fire department and to treat their prior membership service as part of relief credit.
The bill’s author framed the change as an equity measure: "What this bill does is it allows emergency medical personnel who are included in a fire relief to get credit for their full service on the department," Seaburger said, arguing EMS personnel perform the majority of calls and should receive the same relief credit as other department members.
State Auditor Julie Blaha told the commission the auditor’s office recommends further study and offered to have the state auditor’s fire‑relief working group investigate over the summer. Blaha cautioned that even seemingly straightforward changes can have unintended consequences and said the office did not have complete data during the hearing.
Fire chiefs and association representatives warned mandatory statewide inclusion could backdate liabilities, affect local relief association funding assumptions and limit locally chosen plan options. Chief Andrew Slama (Edina) said the bill would remove the local option and require associations to include EMS members; he asked how service credit would be defined and how many departments would be affected.
The commission adopted the author’s 1a amendment to change wording from "first day of active service" to "membership start date" to clarify the intended look‑back for service credit. Members pressed authors on retroactivity, who would absorb costs, and whether the change would apply only to EMS on fire departments (authors said it would).
Outcome: After extensive member questioning and requests for more data, the author asked to lay the bill over and the commission agreed so stakeholders and the auditor can provide further analysis.
