HB 2446 — An Act amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in Commonwealth services, establishing the Fire Company Transformational Grant Program.

PRINTER'S NO.   3257

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 2446
                                               Session of
                                                 2026

     INTRODUCED BY HADDOCK, SOLOMON, McNEILL, VENKAT, MADDEN,
        FREEMAN, RIVERA, SANCHEZ, NEILSON, PASHINSKI, STEELE,
        DONAHUE, INGLIS, PIELLI, BOROWSKI, O'MARA, BOYD, TAKAC,
        A. BROWN AND CIRESI, APRIL 22, 2026

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY
        PREPAREDNESS, APRIL 22, 2026


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania
 2      Consolidated Statutes, in Commonwealth services, establishing
 3      the Fire Company Transformational Grant Program.
 4      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 5   hereby enacts as follows:
 6      Section 1.    Title 35 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
 7   Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
 8   § 7385.3.   Fire Company Transformational Grant Program.
 9      (a)   Establishment.--The Fire Company Transformational Grant
10   Program is established and shall be administered by the office.
11      (b)   Funding.--The office may expend not more than
12   $30,000,000 annually from the Property Tax Relief Reserve Fund
13   for the purposes of awarding grants under this section.
14      (c)   Eligible applicants.--A municipal fire company,
15   volunteer fire company and combination fire company may be
16   eligible for a grant under the program upon application to the
17   office in the form and manner prescribed by the office.
 1      (d)   Purposes.--Grants under the program shall be used to:
 2            (1)   Purchase equipment, including vehicles, protective
 3      equipment, communications equipment and accessory equipment.
 4            (2)   Renovate, modernize or construct facilities
 5      necessary for the operation of a fire company.
 6            (3)   Fund retention and recruitment programs, including
 7      stipends, length of service award programs, recruitment
 8      campaigns and necessary consultants.
 9            (4)   Pay staffing costs, including salaries for active
10      firefighting personnel, not to include any overtime costs.
11            (5)   Pay for expenses related to multicompany projects or
12      regionalization efforts.
13            (6)   Fund projects that improve operations and service
14      delivery involving multiple fire companies.
15            (7)   Fund any other uses deemed appropriate by the office
16      in the guideline published under subsection (f)(1).
17      (e)   Eligibility.--To receive a grant under the program, an
18   applicant must:
19            (1)   Be actively participating in a fire reporting system
20      as designated by the office.
21            (2)   Have on record with the commissioner up-to-date
22      point-of-contact information for the municipal fire company,
23      volunteer fire company or combination fire company. The
24      contact information shall include a mailing address, a
25      telephone number and an email address and must be submitted
26      to the commissioner no later than July 31 immediately
27      preceding each grant application period.
28            (3)   Be registered as an active response agency with a
29      public safety answering point as defined in section 5302
30      (relating to definitions).

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 1          (4)    Have a fire company identification number that is
 2    associated solely with the fire company applying for the
 3    grant.
 4          (5)    Be designated by a municipality, by resolution or
 5    ordinance, as a provider of fire or rescue services within
 6    the municipality.
 7          (6)    Not be delinquent or in violation of any other grant
 8    or loan issued by the office.
 9    (f)   Program standards and requirements.--
10          (1)    The office shall issue guidelines to implement the
11    program and shall transmit the guidelines to the Legislative
12    Reference Bureau for publication in the next available issue
13    of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
14          (2)    Program guidelines shall:
15                 (i)    Establish eligibility standards for applicants.
16                 (ii)    Describe the objectives of the program, which
17          objectives shall be consistent with this section.
18                 (iii)    Establish caps, limits and restrictions with
19          respect to grant amounts in accordance with subsection
20          (g).
21                 (iv)    Establish an annual application process and
22          timelines for submission of applications.
23                 (v)    Present the criteria under which grant
24          applications shall be evaluated by the office.
25                 (vi)    Establish a timetable within which the office
26          shall award or disapprove a complete grant application.
27                 (vii)    Establish procedures by which the office shall
28          verify expenditures of grant money by a grant recipient.
29                 (viii)    Establish requirements related to
30          recordkeeping and audit procedure.

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 1      (g)   Amounts and criteria.--Grants issued under the program
 2   shall be:
 3            (1)   No less than $100,000 and no more than $1,000,000,
 4      unless the applicant for the grant is composed of two or more
 5      municipal fire companies, combination fire companies or
 6      volunteer fire companies that consolidated their equipment,
 7      firefighters and services within five years preceding the
 8      date of the current year's application submission deadline,
 9      in which case the grant shall be no more than $2,500,000.
10            (2)   For a period of five years or less, unless the
11      office determines that there is a hardship or undue burden to
12      extend the term of the grant in excess of five years. The
13      commissioner shall have sole discretion to determine whether
14      a fire company has demonstrated hardship or undue burden. No
15      extension may result in a term that exceeds 10 years from the
16      effective date of the award.
17            (3)   Issued on a reimbursement basis, except when payment
18      is necessary to procure items and services that require
19      advanced payment or working capital. The grant recipient
20      shall be required to provide documentation that supports an
21      advanced payment request with their application.
22      (h)   Restrictions.--The office may not award a grant to an
23   eligible applicant that submits an untimely application.
24      (i)   Administration.--The office may use up to 2% of the
25   funds available under this section for administrative costs.
26      (j)   Annual reports.--
27            (1)   The commissioner shall prepare an annual report on
28      the grants administered under the program. The report shall
29      include all of the following information:
30                  (i)   The total number of applications received for

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 1            grants.
 2                  (ii)    The total number of applications approved and
 3            the amounts funded for each recipient.
 4                  (iii)   An analysis of how the grants were used by
 5            each recipient.
 6            (2)   The commissioner shall submit the annual report
 7      under paragraph (1) to all of the following:
 8                  (i)    The chairperson and minority chairperson of the
 9            Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee of
10            the Senate.
11                  (ii)    The chairperson and minority chairperson of the
12            Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee of
13            the House of Representatives.
14            (3)   The commissioner shall post the annual report under
15      paragraph (1) on the office's publicly accessible Internet
16      website.
17      (k)   Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
18   words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
19   subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
20      "Combination fire company."        A volunteer fire company located
21   in this Commonwealth with at least two paid employees in
22   addition to a fire chief. The term includes either an
23   independent, nonprofit entity or part of a unit of local
24   government.
25      "Municipal fire company."       A firefighting service that is
26   established and operated by a municipality in this Commonwealth
27   as a part of the unit of local government. The term does not
28   include a nonprofit chartered corporation, independent
29   association or independent organization.
30      "Office."     The Office of the State Fire Commissioner.

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1      "Program."   The Fire Company Transformational Grant Program
2   established under this section.
3      "Volunteer fire company."   As defined in section 7802
4   (relating to definitions).
5      Section 2.   This act shall take effect in 90 days.




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