Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

ENROLLED ORIGINAL

                                        A RESOLUTION

                                              25-638

                   IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

                                       September 17, 2024

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend the Retired Police

       Officer Redeployment Amendment Act of 1992 to allow retired Metropolitan Police

       Department officers and retired firefighters from the Fire and Emergency Services

       Department to be eligible for rehire at the discretion of the Director of the Office of

       Unified Communication as temporary full-time or temporary part-time 911 call takers or

       911 dispatchers without jeopardy to the retirement benefits of the employees.

        RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this

resolution may be cited as the “Retired Firefighter and Police Officer Redeployment Extension

Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2024”.

        Sec. 2. (a) Most retired District government employees who collect pension benefits and

are rehired by another District agency are subject to an annuity offset. There are pension offset

exemptions for retired Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) officers who are rehired as

fully sworn temporary full-time or temporary part-time police officers, rehired as temporary full-

time or temporary part-time employees at the Department of Forensic Sciences, or hired by the

Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools as security personnel. These

exemptions allow former District government employees to apply their specific skills in new

roles for which they are uniquely suited.

        (b) Under the Retired Firefighter and Police Officer Redeployment Temporary

Amendment Act of 2023, effective March 1, 2024 (D.C. Law 25-131; 71 DCR 861) (“temporary

legislation”), which is set to expire on October 12, 2024, firefighters retired from the Fire and

Emergency Medical Services Department (“FEMS”) and police officers retired from MPD are

eligible for rehire at the discretion of the Director of the Office of Unified Communications

(“OUC”) as temporary full-time or temporary part-time 911 call takers or 911 dispatchers

without decreasing their retirement benefits. One firefighter has fully onboarded as a 911

dispatcher and additional firefighters plan to apply for dispatcher and call-taker positions as they

become eligible.

        (c) The exemption created by the temporary legislation gave OUC access to a new pool

of candidates who are familiar with dispatch operations from the FEMS and MPD perspectives

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and bring expertise and knowledge gained over decades on the front lines of emergency response

into the heart of OUC operations.

        (d) Permanent, identical legislation is pending in the Council. An extension of the

provisions of the temporary legislation is necessary to allow OUC to continue employing the

firefighter hired as a dispatcher and to continue recruiting and hiring retired firefighters and

police officers as 911 call takers and 911 dispatchers.

      Sec. 3. The Council determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute

emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Retired Firefighter and Police Officer

Redeployment Extension Emergency Amendment Act of 2024 be adopted after a single reading.

       Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.

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