2026 Legislative Update

On May 19, Governor Walz signed the 2026 Omnibus Pension and Retirement Bill into law. All of the Fire Relief Association Working Group proposals were included in the bill, plus some additional changes affecting relief associations that were initiated by other groups or organizations. The bill:

Increases the audit threshold for relief associations from the current $750,000 to $1 million in either special fund assets or liabilities, for consistency with thresholds for other types of local governments. The audit threshold increase goes into effect on December 31, 2026, and applies to audited financial statements for calendar year 2026 and thereafter (i.e., audits filed with the OSA next year).

  • Allows relief associations that drop below the audit threshold to revert to an agreed-upon procedures engagement, instead of continuing to have an annual audit required.
  • Rewrites and clarifies provisions governing service credit for firefighters who resume active fire department service after retirement or a break in service.
  • Updates definitions to include service performed by volunteer emergency medical personnel.
  • Clarifies how benefits are calculated when a relief association dissolves and terminates its retirement plan. References to using the “present value” to determine lump sum benefit amounts were removed from statute, providing relief associations with options on how benefits can be calculated when a plan is terminated.
  • Creates a temporary work group led by the LCPR Executive Director for the purpose of recommending legislation to shorten the vesting schedule for relief associations to a maximum of ten years and to require that relief associations include volunteer or paid on-call emergency medical providers as members on the same basis as firefighters.

Later this year we will provide information to relief associations impacted by the audit threshold change. In the meantime, if you have questions about any of these legislative changes, please contact our Pension Division team.

Last Updated May 2026