California’s incarcerated firefighters are about to get a hefty raise
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- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to boost pay to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for prisoners assigned to an active fire, a raise from the current pay of about $1 an hour.
- More than 1,000 prisoners worked in January to battle the L.A.-area fires.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed legislation to boost the pay of state prisoners assigned to battle California wildfires.
Assembly Bill 247, whose author is Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), raises wages from about $1 an hour to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The wages remain far below the state wage of $16.50 an hour.
The legislation takes effect immediately and was expected to pass after Newsom signed a budget this year that allocates $10 million for incarcerated firefighters’ wages.
Prison fire crews are a significant part of the state’s effort to battle wildfires. In January, more than 1,000 prisoners worked on the devastating fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, with some earning less than $30 a day.
The inmates clear brush and dig containment lines but don’t wield hoses. Working at one of the state’s 35 minimum-security fire camps is a voluntary and coveted job, compared with other prison work.
Simone Price, director of advocacy and organizing at the Center for Employment Opportunities, one of the bill’s many co-sponsors, called the fire work one of the most “dangerous occupations available to individuals who are currently incarcerated.”
The issue of prisoners earning low wages while battling fires emerged as a popular social justice cause in recent years.
In 2020, Newsom signed a law that allows nonviolent incarcerated people who worked on a conservation camp fire crew to have their records expunged.
The California Sheriffs’ Assn. opposed the bill over the cost of the higher wages and argued that incarcerated firefighters already get credit for work. Some prison workers assigned to hand crews have their sentences reduced by two days for each day they serve on an active fire.
Newsom previously signed Assembly Bill 248, a related bill by Bryan, that allows counties to set wages for prisoners who work.
On Friday, the governor also signed more than two dozen bills related to the January fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, including legislation focused on boosting tenant protections and hastening rebuilding. The legislation includes:
- Assembly Bill 299 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), which allows those displaced by disasters to live in short-term lodging facilities without being labeled “tenants.”
- Assembly Bill 462 by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), which makes it easier to build an accessory dwelling unit after a disaster, including by streamlining the California Coastal Commission approval process.
- Senate Bill 495 by Sen. Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica), which allows people to forgo having to immediately itemize their insurance claim losses in the event of a total loss and requires insurers to pay no less than 60% of the policy coverage limit.
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