[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2473 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2473

 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for pay equality and 
   the more accurate computation of retirement benefits for certain 
    firefighters employed by the Federal Government, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 28, 2025

Mr. Gallego (for himself and Mr. Moreno) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for pay equality and 
   the more accurate computation of retirement benefits for certain 
    firefighters employed by the Federal Government, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; PURPOSES.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Federal 
Firefighters Families First Act''.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act, and the amendments made by 
this Act, are--
            (1) to improve pay equality between Federal firefighters, 
        other Federal employees, and municipal and other public sector 
        firefighters;
            (2) to enhance recruitment and retention of firefighters in 
        order to maintain the highest quality of Federal fire service;
            (3) to include the pay of all regularly reoccurring 
        scheduled hours during the firefighter workweek when computing 
        the retirement benefits of firefighters; and
            (4) to establish the regular workweek for Federal 
        firefighters.

SEC. 2. COMPUTATION OF PAY.

    Section 5545b of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ``2756'' and 
        inserting ``2087''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)(1)(B), by striking ``2756'' and 
        inserting ``2087''.

SEC. 3. COMPUTATION OF ANNUITY BASED ON CERTAIN FIREFIGHTER SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Section 5545b of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) For purposes of any determination of `average pay' under 
section 8331(4) or 8401(3), in the case of a firefighter who is subject 
to subsection (b), the rate of basic pay in effect for that firefighter 
for a year of creditable service (or, in the case of an annuity under 
subsection (d) or (e)(1) of section 8341 or under chapter 84 based on 
less than 3 years of creditable service, for any other period of 
creditable service) shall, in addition to the amount determined under 
subsection (b) for that year (or other period), include an amount equal 
to \1/2\ the basic hourly rate of the firefighter (as computed under 
subsection (b)(1)(A)) for that year (or other period) times the number 
of overtime hours included as part of the regular tour of duty of the 
firefighter during that year (or other period).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in section 8331(4), by striking the semicolon at the 
        end and inserting ``, subject to section 5545b(e);''; and
            (2) in section 8401(3), by striking the semicolon at the 
        end and inserting ``, subject to section 5545b(e);''.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A MAXIMUM HOURS OF FEDERAL FIREFIGHTERS' 
              REGULAR WORKWEEK.

    Section 5545b of title 5, United States Code, as amended by section 
3, is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
subsection, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall 
prescribe regulations establishing the maximum number of regularly 
reoccurring hours that comprise a workweek for a firefighter covered by 
this section.
    ``(2) The maximum number of hours described in paragraph (1) shall 
not exceed an average of 60 hours per week.''.

SEC. 5. APPLICATION.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to any 
annuity entitlement that is based on a separation from service 
occurring after the date that is 60 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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