Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a set of bills this week meant to reward inmate firefighters, including a historic measure to raise their pay to meet the federal minimum wage during active fires.
The wage increase, funded through the state budget, follows years of advocacy to improve pay and working conditions for incarcerated labor. That effort took on a new urgency after the media ran many stories regarding inmate firefighters following the Los Angeles fires this January.
State lawmakers this year introduced a seven-bill “Firefighting to Freedom” package to protect and reward inmate firefighters and support job opportunities upon their reentry. Five of those bills were signed into law on Monday.
The package of bills Newsom signed included:
Assembly Bill 247: Requires incarcerated firefighters be paid $7.25 per hour while actively fighting a fire.
Assembly Bill 799: Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation pay a death benefit of $50,000 for the death of an incarcerated firefighter.
Assembly Bill 812: Requires the corrections department to create regulations around referring incarcerated firefighters for resentencing.
Assembly Bill 952: Requires the corrections department to establish and expand the Youth Offender Program Camp Pilot Program as a permanent program.
Senate Bill 245: Streamlines and expedites the expungement process for formerly incarcerated firefighters.
Two of the proposals did not pass, including one that would have required Cal Fire to create more opportunities for inmate firefighters to secure firefighting jobs upon their release. The proposal, Assembly Bill 1380, did not reach Newsom’s office.
CDCR inmate firefighters already receive numinous benefits and sentencing credit for being in the program. These bills provide more pay and job options upon their release custody.
The most high-profile opponent of the AB 247 was the California State Sheriff’s Association, which argued that the existing credit system for time served was already “very generous,” and said the bill’s passage could create a financial burden to counties if they were tasked with paying these new wages.
thetoughestbeat