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

PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 3257, 3479 PRINTER'S NO. 3484
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, CIRESI, T. DAVIS, FLEMING AND MADSEN,
APRIL 22, 2026
AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, JUNE 2, 2026
AN ACT
Amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in Commonwealth services, establishing
the Fire Company Transformational Grant Program.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Title 35 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
§ 7385.3. Fire Company Transformational Grant Program.
(a) Establishment.--The Fire Company Transformational Grant
Program is established and shall be administered by the office.
(b) Funding.--The office may expend not more than
$30,000,000 annually from the Property Tax Relief Reserve Fund
for the purposes of awarding grants under this section.
(c) Eligible applicants.--A municipal fire company,
volunteer fire company and combination fire company may be
eligible for a grant under the program upon application to the
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office in the form and manner prescribed by the office.
(d) Purposes.--Grants under the program shall be used to:
(1) Purchase equipment, including vehicles, protective
equipment, communications equipment and accessory equipment.
(2) Renovate, modernize or construct facilities
necessary for the operation of a fire company.
(3) Fund retention and recruitment programs, including
stipends, length of service award programs, recruitment
campaigns and necessary consultants.
(4) Pay staffing costs, including salaries for active
firefighting personnel, not to include any overtime costs.
(5) Pay for expenses related to multicompany projects or
regionalization efforts.
(6) Fund projects that improve operations and service
delivery involving multiple fire companies.
(7) Fund any other uses deemed appropriate by the office
in the guideline published under subsection (f)(1).
(e) Eligibility.--To receive a grant under the program, an
applicant must:
(1) Be actively participating in a fire reporting system
as designated by the office.
(2) Have on record with the commissioner up-to-date
point-of-contact information for the municipal fire company,
volunteer fire company or combination fire company. The
contact information shall include a mailing address, a
telephone number and an email address and must be submitted
to the commissioner no later than July 31 immediately
preceding each grant application period.
(3) Be registered as an active response agency with a
public safety answering point as defined in section 5302
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(relating to definitions).
(4) Have a fire company identification number that is
associated solely with the fire company applying for the
grant.
(5) Be designated by a municipality, by resolution or
ordinance, as a provider of fire or rescue services within
the municipality.
(6) Not be delinquent or in violation of any other grant
or loan issued by the office.
(f) Program standards and requirements.--
(1) The office shall issue guidelines to implement the
program and shall transmit the guidelines to the Legislative
Reference Bureau for publication in the next available issue
of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
(2) Program guidelines shall:
(i) Establish eligibility standards for applicants.
(ii) Describe the objectives of the program, which
objectives shall be consistent with this section.
(iii) Establish caps, limits and restrictions with
respect to grant amounts in accordance with subsection
(g).
(iv) Establish an annual application process and
timelines for submission of applications.
(v) Present the criteria under which grant
applications shall be evaluated by the office.
(vi) Establish a timetable within which the office
shall award or disapprove a complete grant application.
(vii) Establish procedures by which the office shall
verify expenditures of grant money by a grant recipient.
(viii) Establish requirements related to
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recordkeeping and audit procedure.
(g) Amounts and criteria.--Grants issued under the program
shall be:
(1) No less than $100,000 and no more than $1,000,000,
unless the applicant for the grant is composed of two or more
municipal fire companies, combination fire companies or
volunteer fire companies that consolidated their equipment,
firefighters and services within five years preceding the
date of the current year's application submission deadline,
in which case the grant shall be no more than $2,500,000.
(2) For a period of five years or less, unless the
office determines that there is a hardship or undue burden to
extend the term of the grant in excess of five years. The
commissioner shall have sole discretion to determine whether
a fire company has demonstrated hardship or undue burden. No
extension may result in a term that exceeds 10 years from the
effective date of the award.
(3) Issued on a reimbursement basis, except when payment
is necessary to procure items and services that require
advanced payment or working capital. The grant recipient
shall be required to provide documentation that supports an
advanced payment request with their application.
(h) Restrictions.--The office may not award a grant to an
eligible applicant that submits an untimely application.
(i) Administration.--The office may use up to 2% of the
funds available under this section for administrative costs.
(j) Annual reports.--
(1) The commissioner shall prepare an annual report on
the grants administered under the program. The report shall
include all of the following information:
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(i) The total number of applications received for
grants.
(ii) The total number of applications approved and
the amounts funded for each recipient.
(iii) An analysis of how the grants were used by
each recipient.
(2) The commissioner shall submit the annual report
under paragraph (1) to all of the following:
(i) The chairperson and minority chairperson of the
Appropriations Committee of the Senate.
(ii) The chairperson and minority chairperson of the
Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives.
(iii) The chairperson and minority chairperson of
the Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee
of the Senate.
(iv) The chairperson and minority chairperson of the
Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee of
the House of Representatives.
(3) The commissioner shall post the annual report under
paragraph (1) on the office's publicly accessible Internet
website.
(k) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Combination fire company." A volunteer fire company located
in this Commonwealth with at least two paid employees in
addition to a fire chief. The term includes either an
independent, nonprofit entity or part of a unit of local
government.
"Municipal fire company." A firefighting service that is
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established and operated by a municipality in this Commonwealth
as a part of the unit of local government. The term does not
include a nonprofit chartered corporation, independent
association or independent organization.
"Office." The Office of the State Fire Commissioner.
"Program." The Fire Company Transformational Grant Program
established under this section.
"Volunteer fire company." As defined in section 7802
(relating to definitions).
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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