BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 312
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 312 (Wieckowski) - As Amended: April 8, 2013
SUBJECT : Local government: employees: firefighters.
SUMMARY : Makes changes to the placement of eligible displaced
firefighters on the hiring list and to the time period which
they remain on the hiring list that is administered by the
California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Program.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes the existing requirement which governs the placement
on the hiring list by length
of service as a permanent career civilian federal, state, or
local government firefighter.
2)Decreases the number of months, from 48 to 36 months that an
eligible firefighter shall remain on the hiring list.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship
Program to administer, prepare, and circulate to local
governments a list of permanent career civilian federal,
state, and local government firefighters who are eligible for
appointment.
2)Requires placement on the list to be governed by length of
service as a permanent career civilian federal, state, or
local government firefighter.
3)Allows an eligible firefighter to apply for placement on the
list after receiving a notice of termination of position or a
priority placement notice.
4)Provides that an eligible firefighter will remain on the list
for a period of 48 months.
5)Authorizes a local government, fire protection district, joint
powers agency, city, charter city, county or city and county,
upon approval of its governing body when hiring new
firefighters to appoint any person who meets all of the
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following criteria:
a) Was serving as a permanent career civilian federal
firefighter in good standing at any military installation
or was a permanent career firefighter employed by the state
or a local government within the state;
b) Has satisfactorily completed all required firefighter
training; and,
c) Was, as a consequence of the closure, downsizing, or
realignment of a federal military installation, terminated
as a permanent career civilian federal firefighter or as a
consequence of job-elimination, terminated as a permanent
career state or local government firefighter, within 48
months prior to the appointment.
6)States the appointment authority takes precedence over any
provision or, or any condition or circumstance arising from a
provision or condition of a charter, ordinance, or resolution
that governs employment of firefights, as specified.
7)Prohibits a local government from employing a person from the
list if a special reemployment list is in existence for the
firefighter position to be filled.
8)Requires local governments to give first priority to residents
of the jurisdiction, and second priority to residents of the
county not residing in the jurisdiction when using this
appointment authority.
9)Specifies that a local government is not required to hire a
person into a position that guarantees the same seniority,
seniority-related privileges, and rank as their previously
held position.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)The California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Program,
established in 1980, is a non-profit program sponsored and
administered by the State Fire Marshal and the California
Professional Firefighters. This program is designed to
improve the quality and quantity of training for professional
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firefighters, and to provide an avenue of entry into the
California Fire Service for qualified individuals.
SB 538 (Greene), Chapter 73, Statutes of 1997, authorized the
California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Program to
administer and distribute a hiring list of eligible
firefighters to fire districts and departments throughout the
state to grant preferred hiring status to former civilian
federal firefighters who have been displaced due to a military
base closure. There have been several measures that expanded
the list of eligible firefighters. SB 258 (Ortiz), Chapter
305, Statutes of 1999, added former permanent civilian federal
firefighters who have been displaced due to base downsizing or
realignment, and AB 1929 (Samuelian), Chapter 126, Statutes of
2004, added state and local government permanent career
firefighters who have been displaced as a consequence of job
elimination within the previous four years.
According to the California Professional Firefighters, the
displaced firefighter hiring list has been successfully
administered under this program and has saved fire departments
time and money in the hiring process, while also allowing
highly trained firefighters to continue working in their
chosen fire service career. Current law requires the
placement list to be governed by the length of service as a
permanent career civilian federal state, or local government
firefighter and places eligible firefighters on the list for
48 months.
2)This bill removes the requirement which dictates the placement
of eligible firefighters on the list by length of service, and
decreases the amount of months, from 48 to 36 months that an
eligible firefighter will remain on the list. This bill is
sponsored by the California Professional Firefighters.
The sponsor argues that the decrease in months "reflects a
historically-appropriate length of time that a displaced
firefighter has remained on the list before being hired by
another fire department." The sponsor also argues that
deleting the requirement to sort the list based on length of
service will help dispel any misconceptions that any priority
is involved based on the order of the list.
3)Support arguments : Supporters argue that this bill conforms
statute in a manner that reflects the California Fire Fighter
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Joint Apprenticeship Program's practical administration of the
hiring list.
Opposition arguments : None
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Professional Firefighters [SPONSOR]
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958