BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Tom Torlakson, Chairman
220 (Bass)
Hearing Date: 8/20/07 Amended: 7/2/07
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz Policy Vote: Judiciary 3-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 220 enacts the Firefighters Procedural Bill of
Rights Act which provides specific rights related to political
activity, interrogation, punitive action, and administrative
appeals.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 Fund
Mandate expenses ----potentially in excess of several
million annually--- General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria to be referred to
the Suspense file.
AB 220 provides that reimbursement of funds by the state will be
limited to the actual costs associated with the Bill of Rights
Act. A local agency may not be reimbursed for the costs of
existing, similar protections and procedures required for
investigations and interrogations of firefighters pursuant to
regulation, rule, or ordinance of the local agency. Although
those actual costs are unknown, it is likely that the
reimbursable mandate would exceed $1 million annually.
"Firefighter" is defined as any firefighter employed by a public
agency, including any firefighter who is a paramedic or
emergency medical technician. An inmate of the state or local
correctional agency who performs firefighting or related duties
is not included.
AB 220 provides the following rights to firefighters:
1)No firefighter shall be prohibited from engaging, or be
coerced or required to engage, in political activity.
2)A firefighter will not be prohibited from seeking election to
a school board or governing board of any local agency where
the firefighter is not employed.
3)Provides numerous rights and protections in respect to
interrogation procedures including prohibiting the threat of
punitive action, visits by the press without the consent of
the firefighter, reasonable times and duration of
interrogations, and allows the recording of interrogations of
which the firefighter will have access to.
4)Provides that an employing department shall not undertake
punitive action or denial of promotions on grounds other than
merit.
5)Firefighters will not be denied promotion for exercising any
of the rights granted under the Act.
6)Prohibits punitive action if the investigation of the
allegation of misconduct is not completed within one year of
discovery by the employer, except in specified circumstances.
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AB 220 (Bass)
7)Provides firefighters with the right to inspect personnel
files, and to request that any mistaken or unlawful entries
are deleted.
8)Provides firefighters shall not be compelled to take a lie
detector test.
9)Prohibits employers from requiring a firefighter to disclose
any item of his or her property, income, assets, source of
income, debts, or personal expenditures.
Additionally, AB 220 provides that it is unlawful for any
employing department or agency to deny or refuse to any
firefighter the rights and protections under this Act, and
provides that the superior court will have initial jurisdiction
over any proceeding brought by any firefighter against an
employer for violations. The bill provides that a malicious
violation of the act would subject the employer-agency to a
civil penalty of up to $25,000, in addition to actual damages
and reasonable attorney's fees.
The Firefighter Procedural Bill of Rights Act is modeled after
the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (known
as POBOR). In FY 2004-05, claims submitted from counties
pursuant to reimbursement from POBOR were approximately $21
million. It is staff's understanding that although the
Commission on State Mandates has ruled that POBOR constituted a
reimbursable mandate, the parameters and guidelines of approved
costs are still at issue, and many of the claims are under
review by the State Auditor.