Pennsylvania HB 797: An Act amending the act of May 25, 1933 (P.L.1050, No.242), referred to as the Second Class City Firemen Relief Law, further providing for requirements of membership, for married persons and pensions to surviving spouses and for eligibility of surviving spouses.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 821
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 797
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY BENHAM, HILL-EVANS, HARKINS, McNEILL, KENYATTA,
KHAN, PIELLI, DEASY, STEELE, GIRAL, BOROWSKI, OTTEN, MAYES,
CERRATO, SANCHEZ, SALISBURY, ABNEY, FRANKEL AND KINKEAD,
MARCH 3, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, MARCH 3, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of May 25, 1933 (P.L.1050, No.242), entitled
"An act creating and establishing a fund for the care,
maintenance, and relief of aged, retired and disabled
employes of the bureau of fire in cities of the second class;
creating a board for the management thereof; providing the
mode and manner of payment to beneficiaries, and for the care
and disposition of its funds; and providing for the transfer
and payment of all moneys and securities in existing funds in
similar boards superseded by the fund and board herein
created," further providing for requirements of membership,
for married persons and pensions to surviving spouses and for
eligibility of surviving spouses.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 9, 9.2(b) and (d) and 9.3(d) of the act
of May 25, 1933 (P.L.1050, No.242), referred to as the Second
Class City Firemen Relief Law, are amended to read:
Section 9. Any individual eligible to membership in such
fund, as aforesaid, shall be required--
(1) To sign an acceptance of the provisions of this act,
which acceptance shall contain an agreement, on the part of the
one so signing, that upon resignation or dismissal from the
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employ of said bureau of fire, he shall thereby relinquish and
forfeit all rights to participate in said fund; and no
employment shall be granted an applicant to a position which
would make him eligible as a member of said fund until such
acceptance and agreement is signed by him.
(2) To contribute to said fund six per centum of his rated
monthly wages, which shall be deducted from his wages by the
city controller from the payroll for the last pay period of each
month, and paid into the fund. All beneficiaries of the fund
shall, in addition thereto, pay the sum of one dollar a month
into the said fund, and in the case of active members, the city
controller shall deduct said contribution from the payroll of
the last pay period of each month and the secretary of the fund
shall deduct the sum of one dollar from the pension paid each
pensioner. The amount so collected shall be paid into the
firemen's relief and pension fund and out of the funds of the
firemen's relief and pension fund there shall be paid to the
beneficiary of any deceased member of the fund, the sum of one
thousand two hundred dollars.
When any member of the fund shall resign or be dismissed from
service there shall be paid to him from the fund a sum of money
equal to all dues paid by him into the fund, without interest.
When any member of the fund shall die in active service there
shall be paid from the fund a sum of money equal to all dues
paid by him into the fund, without interest, to his widow, if
there be such widow, or in the absence of such widow to such
person or persons as he shall have designated on a form prepared
and approved by the board for such purpose, or in the absence of
such widow and such designation to his estate. When any
beneficiary shall die before he has received pension payments
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equal in amount to his total contributions to the fund, there
shall be paid a sum of money equal to the difference between the
amount of his said contributions and the amount he shall have
received as pension payments, without interest, to his widow, if
there be such widow or in the absence of such widow to such
person or persons as he shall have designated on a form prepared
and approved by the board for such purpose, or in the absence of
such widow and such designation to his estate.
In addition when any member of the fund shall die as a result
of injuries incurred while in the performance of his duties,
there shall be paid to his widow from the fund monthly sums in
amounts which, together with any payments received under ["The
Pennsylvania Workmen's] the "Workers' Compensation Act" or "The
Pennsylvania Occupational Disease Act," will be equal to fifty
per centum of his salary at the time of his death. Such monthly
payments shall continue for five hundred weeks[, or until the
widow shall remarry,] or until her death, whichever shall first
occur.
In the event there are surviving children but no widow, or
after the payments herein provided for the widow have been
discontinued by reason of the end of the five hundred week
period [or her remarriage] or death, each unmarried child of the
deceased member under the age of eighteen years shall thereafter
receive payments equal to twenty-five per centum of the payments
above provided for the widow, b