AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 5, 2025

AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 27, 2025

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2025

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2025

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 5, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

92

CHAPTER 681

Statutes of 2025

[ Approved by Governor October 13, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 13, 2025. ]

URGENCY STATUTE

Introduced by Assembly Member Bryan

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Haney, Kalra, Addis, Alanis, Bonta, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Harabedian, Jackson, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Pellerin, Celeste Rodriguez, Rogers, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, and Solache)

January 15, 2025

An act to amend Section 4019.2 of, and to add Section 2714 to, the Penal Code, and to add Section 1760.46 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to inmate firefighters, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Under existing law, a prisoner can reduce their term of imprisonment by earning credit for, among other things, continuous incarceration, good behavior, and participation in approved rehabilitative programming. Existing law makes an inmate of a county jail or state prison who has completed training for assignment to a conservation camp, state or county facility, or a correctional institution as an inmate firefighter, or who is assigned to a state or county facility or a correctional institution as an inmate firefighter, and who is eligible to earn one day of credit for every one day of incarceration, instead eligible to earn 2 days of credit for every one day served in that assignment or after completing that training.

Existing law authorizes a juvenile court to order placement of a ward at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp if specified criteria are met, including if the county has entered into a contract with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the department has found the ward amenable. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into contracts with counties to operate the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp through a state-local partnership, or other management arrangement, to train justice-involved youth, as specified, in wildland firefighting skills.

This bill would require an incarcerated individual hand crew member, in addition to receiving credits, and a ward or youth hand crew member placed at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp to be paid an hourly wage equal to $7.25 while assigned to an active fire incident. The bill would require that wage rate to be reviewed annually. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and counties to maintain regulations regarding an administrative adjudication and remedy process for any disputes over sums owned pursuant to these provisions.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 2714 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

2714.

In addition to the credits received pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2933.3, incarcerated individual hand crew members shall be paid an hourly wage equal to seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) while assigned to an active fire incident. The wage rate shall be reviewed annually.

SEC. 2.

Section 4019.2 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

4019.2.

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, any inmate sentenced to county jail assigned to a conservation camp by a sheriff and who is eligible to earn one day of credit for every one day of incarceration pursuant to Section 4019 shall instead earn two days of credit for every one day of service.

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, any inmate who has completed training for assignment to a conservation camp or to a state or county facility as an inmate firefighter or who is assigned to a county or state correctional institution as an inmate firefighter and who is eligible to earn one day of credit for every one day of incarceration pursuant to Section 4019 shall instead earn two days of credit for every one day served in that assignment or after completing that training.

(c) (1) In addition to the credits received pursuant to subdivision (b), incarcerated individual hand crew members shall be paid an hourly wage equal to seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) while assigned to an active fire incident. The wage rate shall be reviewed annually.

(2) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall maintain regulations regarding an administrative adjudication and remedy process for any dispute over sums owed pursuant to this section for incarcerated individual hand crew members assigned to a state conservation camp, facility, or institution.

(3) A county shall maintain regulations regarding an administrative adjudication and remedy process for any disputes over sums owed pursuant to this section for incarcerated individual hand crew members assigned to that county’s conservation camp, facility, or institution.

(d) In addition to credits granted pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b), inmates who have successfully completed training for firefighter assignments shall receive a credit reduction from their term of confinement.

(e) The credits authorized in subdivisions (b) and (d) shall only apply to inmates who are eligible after October 1, 2011.

SEC. 3.

Section 1760.46 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

1760.46.

(a) A ward or youth hand crew member placed at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp pursuant to Section 730, Section 875, or Section 1760.45 shall be paid an hourly wage equal to seven dollars and twenty-five cents ($7.25) while assigned to an active fire incident. The wage rate shall be reviewed annually.

(b) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall maintain regulations regarding an administrative adjudication and remedy process for any disputes over sums owed pursuant to this section.

SEC. 4.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

To ensure that resources are ready and available to combat California’s wildfires, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.