First Responder Fair RETIRE Act

The First Responder Fair RETIRE Act (HR521) was introduced in the House on January 28, 2021, sponsored by Rep. Connolly (D-VA). It passed the House on July 12, 2022, and was signed into law by The President on December 9, 2022. The bill modifies federal retirement law (5 U.S.C. §8336(c)) to allow disabled federal first responders—including law enforcement officers, firefighters, customs and border protection officers, air traffic controllers, nuclear materials couriers, Capitol Police, Supreme Court Police, and certain CIA and State Department personnel—to remain in the accelerated retirement system after becoming disabled and being reassigned to non-covered positions. There is no funding amount associated with this bill; it is a policy change that affects retirement benefit calculations for a specific group of federal employees. No private companies are impacted, as the bill solely concerns federal employee compensation. The legislative process was straightforward: referred to three committees, marked up, and passed under suspension of the rules. Because this is a narrow personnel matter with no procurement, contracting, or regulatory implications for private industry, the market impact is zero.