HB 589 Kentucky House · 2026 Regular Session

AN ACT relating to retired emergency personnel.

Summary
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 95 to define "city" and "firefighter"; provide that cities may employ retired firefighters provided the firefighter participated in the Firefighters Foundation Program Fund or retired pursuant to KRS Chapter 95, retired with at least 20 years of service credit with no administrative charges pending, and met the separation of employment requirements so that retirement benefits from the systems administered by the Kentucky Public Pensions Authority (KPPA) were not voided; provide that retired firefighters employed by a city shall continue to receive the benefits they were eligible to receive upon retirement, but shall not accrue any additional retirement or health benefits during reemployment except that a city may authorize health coverage by taking legislative action; provide that retirement and any health contributions shall not be paid by the city to the KPPA on a retired firefighter who is reemployed under the Act; provide that individuals employed under the Act may be employed for a term not to exceed 1 year, which may be renewed at the discretion and need of the city; establish limits on the number of reemployed firefighters a city may hire under the program; make technical corrections; amend KRS 61.637, 61.702, 78.5536, and 78.5540 to conform.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 6, 2026 Last action Feb 26, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Current/Final · 6 edits
MODERATE
The bill was amended to expand its applicability from only cities to include all types of employers, such as fire protection districts. The definition of 'firefighter' was updated to cover personnel from municipal departments and fire protection districts, while the eligibility and employment rules were adjusted to apply to these new employer categories instead of just cities.
Scope change
The bill's scope was expanded from applying only to 'cities' to applying to all 'employers,' which now includes incorporated cities, consolidated local governments, urban-county governments, charter county governments, and fire protection districts.
DEFINITION

The term 'City' was removed and replaced with 'Employer,' which now lists five specific types of entities eligible to hire retired firefighters, including fire protection districts.

The definition of 'Firefighter' was updated to include members of paid municipal fire departments and fire protection districts, ensuring the new employer types can hire these specific groups.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility requirements for reemployment were rewritten to refer to 'an employer' instead of 'a city,' making the rules applicable to all new employer categories.

REQUIREMENT

Employment terms, compensation procedures, and health insurance obligations were updated to specify that the 'employer' (rather than the 'city') manages these aspects for retired firefighters.

The limits on the number of retired firefighters an entity can employ were changed from 'city' limits to 'employer' limits, applying the same numerical caps to all new employer types.

Provisions regarding retirement payment suspensions and due process rights were updated to apply to the 'employer' instead of the 'city.'

Floor votes · House Feb 25, 2026

How they voted

1020
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 105
Feb 25, 2026
D Democratic21
20 Yea 1
95% Yea
R Republican84
82 Yea 2
97% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
9
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Feb 26, 2026
Committee
to Committee on Committees (S)
upper
Feb 25, 2026
Lower · Passed
3rd reading, passed 97-0 with Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Feb 19, 2026
Lower · Passed
reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1)
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Committee
to State Government (H)
lower
Feb 6, 2026
Committee
to Committee on Committees (H)
lower
Feb 6, 2026
Introduced
introduced in House
lower
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.