BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2149
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Alberto Torrico, Chair
AB 2149 (Furutani) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010
SUBJECT : County retirement.
SUMMARY : Deletes obsolete references to "fireman" in the
County Employees' Retirement Law of 1937 ('37 Act) and replaces
them with the gender neutral term "firefighter".
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the sponsor, the California
Professional Firefighters, "Nationally, it's estimated that
fewer than 3% of front line firefighters are women - in
California, women account for about 5% of the total?most of whom
are concentrated in a few large departments. Much of the
decline in the number of female firefighters can be traced to a
lack of recruitment efforts following the abandonment of
affirmative action programs in 1996.
"To help counteract this affect on recruitment of women the
California Fire Fighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee created a
new Commission to Recruit Women for the Fire Service. Comprised
of 10 female active firefighters - ranging from firefighter to
chief - the Commission meets regularly to develop fresh
approaches to recruit women?all designed to bring a new
generation of women to the profession.
"By changing the reference from "fireman" to "firefighter" this
bill would assist in broader efforts to ensure gender equity in
the state's county retirement law given focus on recruitment and
retention of women in non-traditional public safety professions,
such as firefighting."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Professional Firefighters (Sponsor)
California Commission on the Status of Women
AB 2149
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957