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House adopts oversight amendment to $30 million fire grant program after extended debate over funding and distribution
Summary
Lawmakers debated House Bill 2446 — a $30 million Fire Company Transformational Grant Program — over several amendments about carve‑outs for small/rural departments and whether to fund the program from the Property Tax Relief Reserve Fund; an agreed amendment to add appropriations chairs to the fire commissioner's report was adopted and the bill was ordered reprinted as amended.
A prolonged floor debate over House Bill 2446, the Fire Company Transformational Grant Program, focused on how the $30 million program should be structured and where the money should come from.
Representative Haddock, the bill’s sponsor, said the grants must be large enough to buy or refurbish major apparatus and to meet construction costs, arguing that “a fire truck today cost in excess of $1,000,000.” He warned that small increases to the existing grant program would not cover such equipment purchases and defended the bill’s grant sizes and standards.
Opponents and amendment sponsors urged broader distribution. Representative Roy argued the bill, as drafted, could concentrate awards on a small number of departments: “If the maximum grants are awarded, 30 fire departments might get $1,000,000 each,” leaving thousands of departments without support, he said, and urged measures that would benefit more of Pennsylvania’s roughly 2,400 volunteer fire companies.
Representative Pugh offered amendment A03261 to carve out 40% of the program for smaller rural departments (described by the amendment as those with 50 active members and populations of 10,000 or fewer) and to expand reporting requirements on recipients and fund distribution. Representative Haddock opposed the change as imposing administrative burdens and delaying reporting; the amendment failed on the floor (ayes 99, nays 102).
Several other amendments proposing to redirect funds into the existing Fire Commission grant program or to change minimum award sizes were debated and rejected after members traded estimates of equipment costs, program reach and administrative complexity.
Later on the floor Representative Gillen offered amendment A03269, described as an agreed amendment to improve oversight by ensuring the majority and minority chairs of the House and Senate appropriations committees receive the fire commissioner’s report. The House adopted that amendment unanimously (ayes 201, nays 0). The House then agreed the bill as amended and it was ordered reprinted.
The debate highlighted a persistent tension between funding larger, equipment‑level grants for a subset of departments and distributing more modest amounts more widely; members on both sides described the disagreement as a matter of fairness and fiscal prioritization rather than a question of supporting volunteer firefighters.
Next steps: the bill will be reprinted with the adopted amendment and proceed through whatever subsequent steps are required before enrollment and presentation to the Senate.
