A short bill makes a small change to the funeral expenses benefit that applies to pre-LEOFF firefighters under the State’s 1955 Firefighters’ Relief and Pensions Act (1955 Act). SB 6263 is sponsored by Sen. Lynda Wilson (R–Vancouver), and it increases the statutory funeral benefit due to deceased active or retired firefighters from $500 to $1,000.

The bill is intended to bring the pre-LEOFF firefighter funeral benefit in line with the pre-LEOFF police funeral benefit, which is also $1,000. Cities that still maintain their own legacy pre-LEOFF pension systems for firefighters will be required to cover the additional cost.

The 1955 Act required individual local fire departments to manage their own pension systems, and it applies to firefighters who were part of those separate pension systems that existed prior to the creation of the Law Enforcement Officers’ & Firefighters’ (LEOFF) retirement system. When the LEOFF system was created in 1970, firefighters and police officers moved from separate department-by-department pension systems to a single, state-managed retirement system.

Dates to remember

SB 6263 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday, January 23 at 4 pm.