11th District Report

It has been my honor to serve each of you these past two years since being elected as the 11th District Vice President at the 57th Biennial Convention in Boston, MA in 2024. As we have grown to more than 32,000 members of Oklahoma, Texas, and the Canal Zone, our strength stands out as one of the largest districts in our IAFF. More potential members and locals continue to reach out in their hopes of being organized to become a part of our International Union.

Since my election, I have participated in collective bargaining negotiations, administration of grievances, arbitration hearings, disciplinary hearings, publicly speaking on behalf of our affiliate locals at both Emergency Service Districts (ESD)commissioners’ meeting and city council meetings, and providing advice to our local leaders in our district. I take great pride in the addition of our new locals and helping not only our new locals, but also to many of our current locals. It has been my honor to swear in the officers of both state associations as well as many leaders across our IAFF affiliate locals.

As many of you have noticed and commented on, I have made it a point to be on the road working with many of you. This has included attending executive board and general membership meetings, as well as many dozens of station visits. Being out meeting with your members in support of your local’s efforts has been extremely fulfilling. I am proud of the services we provide as the IAFF and appreciate having the opportunities to share information with our 11th District’s members.

I have spent time in Washington, D.C. meeting with U.S. Senators of each state, as well as many members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was an honor to meet with members of the president’s administration to speak on a variety of important IAFF issues in March 2025 while attending the IAFF Legislative Conference. Many days have also been devoted to meeting with members of each state’s legislature in both Austin and Oklahoma City.

Below are some brief state reports on noteworthy events since the 2024 Convention. For more detailed information, please refer to the Minutes from past IAFF Executive Board meetings.

Professional Fire Fighters of Oklahoma (PFFO) – The 2026 legislative session was one of the most active and consequential pension sessions in recent Oklahoma history. The following are several of the retirement-related measures that became law during the 2026 session specific to Oklahoma fire fighters:

SB 1147 – Firefighters Pension COLA

Provides a targeted cost-of-living adjustment for retired fire fighters.

SB 1149 – Tweener Stipend

Provides a one-time $25,000 stipend for eligible police officers and

Fire fighters commonly referred to as “Tweeners.”

Tweeners are public safety retirees who retired between May 26, 1983, and November 1, 1989, after the Escalator Plan ended but before Plan B improvements were implemented. Because of this gap, these retirees missed benefit adjustments provided to both earlier and later retirees.

Many of the remaining Tweeners are now in their 80s and 90s and have experienced decades of inflation without meaningful benefit adjustments.

The stipend represented targeted relief for a small and aging population whose retirement benefits had significantly lost purchasing power over time.

The Oklahoma Legislature also considered and advanced housing and building code reforms regarding egress. A key focus was House Bill 3913 and related building code committee discussions, which aimed to address the state’s housing shortage by updating emergency escape and egress rules.

Single-Stairway Apartment Buildings (HB 3913): This legislation would have permitted municipalities to authorize certain four-story apartment buildings to be built with only a single emergency exit stairway, provided stringent fire-resistant safety criteria, smoke detection systems, and emergency escape/rescue openings are met. This bill ultimately died in committee.

With the assistance of both the PFFO and IAFF, the following Oklahoma locals were successful with their interest arbitrations for their collective bargaining negotiations: Bartlesville Local 200, Pauls Valley, Local 4455, and Sulphur Local 4402. Additionally, Bartlesville-L200 came to a settlement on FLSA violations with the assistance of our IAFF Legal Department.

Texas State Association of Fire Fighters (TSAFF) – The Texas Legislature met in 2025 for its 89th regular session. TSAFF President John Riddle reported a record-setting number of 11 bills being passed, along with two multi-million-dollar appropriations for historic fire fighter cancer research and for support for border fire fighters. The following is an overview of the bill they sponsored or helped to pass:

HB 2713 – Darby / Hancock – This bill ensures that all cities with 50,000 people or more that have or will adopt Civil Service (Chapter 143 LGC) can never have it repealed. This was in response to a fringe organization that was attempting to repeal it in San Marcos. Unfortunately, CLEAT (Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas) urged a population bracket. We will need to address that issue next session.

HB 3732 – Martinez / Alvarado – This bill was developed to assist the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP). With new NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) standards, come new requirements for equipment. This gives the TCFP flexibility on enforcement if production delays result in noncompliance. The bill sunsets in September 2027. TSAFF leadership at the TCFP continues to make an important difference.

HB 331 – Patterson / J. Hinojosa – This is the final piece to HB 471 from the 2023 session and a continuation of SB 2551 from 2019. This bill ensures that heart attacks and strokes are covered in the Presumptive Act up to eight hours after duty and removes the distracting, nonsensical term “nonroutine.”

HB 1639 – Patterson / Alvarado – This is the bill to study gender-specific cancers in female fire fighters. This is a combination study by the TCFP and Texas Department of State Health Services. This provides momentum toward a plan to add female cancers to the Presumptive Act. In combination with the UT Health Science Houston study referenced below, this is important progress.

HB 1593 – Campos / Middleton – This bill creates a group to study suicide prevention and peer support programs in fire departments throughout the state. This study would produce findings of best practices that can eventually become law and the necessary appropriations to fund it.

HB 2513 – Tepper / Perry – This bill ensures that fire fighters with ongoing military requirements get treated the same as other government employees. They only have 15 days to draw from, and HB 2513 ensures that a 24-hour or 48-hour shift only counts as one military leave day.

SB 2786 – Creighton / Lambert – This bill exempts fire fighters, EMTs, and peace officers, as military personnel are, from Texas Success Initiative test requirements that determines a potential higher education student’s ability to enter an institution.

HB 4144 – Turner / Middleton – This bill applies to retirees from departments with 50 or more fire fighters or police officers for 36 months after retirement. If a retiree is diagnosed with a cancer listed in the Presumptive Act or has a heart attack or stroke, they shall receive a payment of $100,000 or their final year’s salary, whatever is the least. (Retirees that receive healthcare from their former employer that is comparable to their final year employed, are not eligible.)

HB 198 – Bumgarner / Parker – This bill gives a fire fighter access to an annual cancer, heart, and infectious disease screening if his or her department is not already providing such testing. This is a particularly important step to early diagnosis of presumptive issues and developing steps to mitigate those diseases.

HB 2488 – K. Bell / Alvarado – This bill allows the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to cost-effectively and efficiently use video conferencing for certain contested hearings related to workers compensation claims.

SB 2965 – Creighton / C. Bell – This bill ensures that if a municipal fire department or an ESD takes over a territory, they will provide comparable service. The cities and ESDs worked out this bill. 

SB 1 – This is the appropriations bill that determines the State of Texas budget for Fiscal Years 2026 and 2027. Working  with Sen. Brandon Creighton, Rep. Jared Patterson, Rep. Stan Kitzman, and Rep. Armando Martinez, among others, we secured $5 million for fire fighter cancer research at UT Health Science Center in Houston. The appropriation calls for UT Health Houston “to conduct research on firefighter cancer and other firefighter related diseases, study existing research, develop mitigation policies, and aggregate information from previous studies.” Houston Local 341 fire fighters supported this important initiative as well. In another appropriation project, we secured $3 million for border fire departments. 

Over the past two years, we have had the following Texas locals pass referendums for state civil service (Texas Local Government Code Chapter 143), collective bargaining (Texas Local Government Code Chapter 174) and/or binding arbitration: Hurst Local 4660, Hutto Local 4707, Irving Local 2073, Victoria Local 3679, and Wichita Falls Local 432. Several of these locals have already negotiated their first collective bargaining agreement. 

Since taking office, our Mighty 11th District has grown. The October 1, 2024, membership reports listed 30,682 active and retired members across 310 locals. Our June 1, 2026, reports reflected 32,432 total members across 330 locals. I am grateful to IAFF Deputy Director Neil Pettit for his work to gather and communicate with those individuals reaching out to the IAFF as organizing leads. This has led Wichita Falls Local 432 President Al Vitolo (Texas) and PFFO President Ricky Burns and PFFO Secretary/Treasurer Michael Korb (Oklahoma) to do a fantastic job of organizing so many new locals and members across our district. We continue to receive and follow up on leads as they come in to us.

I am happy to report the introduction of two separate district training programs I discussed during my campaign for this office. The first was a New Union Members Conference hosted by Fort Worth Local 440 where 20 young members from locals across the District came together to learn about the history of the labor/union movement and the value of what our IAFF has to offer. Recently, we started the inaugural class of the 11th District Executive Leadership Series which includes 11 union leaders from both states, and even both state associations. This class will include more than 130 hours of training over seven separate sessions culminating with their graduation in Fort Worth on March 31, 2027.

On behalf of the more than 32,000 members of the Mighty 11th District, I am honored to submit this report to IAFF General President Edward Kelly, General Secretary-Treasurer Frank Líma, and the IAFF Executive Board in accordance with the IAFF Constitution and By-Laws. Congratulations as well go out to 7th District VP Walsh and 14th District VP Todd on their retirements. We want to wish each of you all the best for a long and healthy retirement. As the summer is upon us now, I look forward to hosting each of you alongside President Jimmy Studer and the rest of Arlington Local 1329 for our 58th Biennial Convention.