Providing for unified fire and emergency service departments

The bill provides that the largest city that is a party to the agreement shall be deemed the employer for employees of the unified fire department. An employee of a city other than the largest city shall be granted full employment rights in the unified fire department based on all similar prior service by that employee. The bill provides that the civil service commission for the largest city subject to city civil service requirements shall serve as the civil service commission for the unified fire department if at least one city entering the agreement is subject to city civil services requirements. All employees of such a unified fire department shall be subject to city civil services requirements. An employee who was either not previously subject to city civil services requirements or subject to city civil services requirements for a city other than the largest city shall, for purposes of city civil services requirements, be granted full civil service rights at the time the employee becomes subject to city civil services requirements for the unified fire department based on all similar prior full-time service by that employee either for a city not subject to city civil services requirements or subject to city civil services requirements for a city other than the largest city. The bill provides that the retirement system under either Code chapter 411 or 97B in which the largest city participates as of the date the agreement became effective shall be the retirement system for the unified fire department. Employees of the unified fire department shall, for service for the unified fire department on or after the date the agreement became effective, be members of that retirement system. The bill defines “largest city” as the city that is the largest city by population that is a party to an agreement to establish a unified fire department as of the most recent decennial census as of the date the agreement became effective.