California inmate firefighter pay bill blazes path through Legislature

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Inmates working at a California conservation camp wear the same protective gear as their professional firefighting counterparts.

They work to stop the same fires and face the same risks. However, they only earn $1 an hour and might collect about $5 to $10 a day, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan said.

Bryan, a Los Angeles Democrat, urged the state Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday to pass Assembly Bill 247. It would increase the hourly pay for conservation camp firefighters to the federal minimum wage: $7.25 an hour, while assigned to an active fire.

“Crews typically work grueling 24-hour shifts, although this year’s Los Angeles fires saw many working double that,” Bryan wrote in a bill analysis. “AB 247 will ensure that incarcerated people on the front line of fire disasters receive fair compensation for their invaluable service during devastating fires.”

The committee passed Bryan’s bill, sending it to the Senate Appropriations Committee. If it passes muster there, it will proceed to the Senate floor.

The bill initially called for a $19-an-hour wage, though it was reduced during the legislative process.

Isaiah Nazari didn’t appear at the hearing, though someone read a letter he wrote to the committee.

Nazari noted that he served in a conservation camp while incarcerated. He wore the equipment and stood alongside Cal Fire firefighters while receiving a fraction of their pay.

“All lives have value, regardless of incarceration status,” Nazari wrote.

The California State Sheriffs’ Association opposed the bill. In a bill analysis, the group pointed to the two days of credit an inmate receives for each day served in a camp. That means someone assigned to a camp would serve only a third of their sentence.

Additionally, the association expressed worry over the counties that could face financial pressure if required to pay the increased wage.

State Senator Kelly Seyarto, a Murrieta Republican and committee member, argued the increased pay to $7.25 would mean fewer people in the conservation camp program. Higher pay will mean lower participation rates because the funding won’t exist.

“Number 1, no panicking, I’m going to support your bill,” Seyarto said. He added that the firefighters should receive the higher pay. However, lawmakers must include funding for them. “I’m fine supporting it, but it’s going to have a cost.”

Bryan quipped that he knew he’d find an issue both legislators would agree on, as Seyarto is a retired firefighter. He added that the Legislature had little political will to discuss the issue, though the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County early this year sparked the conversation.

Voting on several bills at Tuesday’s hearing, the committee also considered legislation that would expand an existing law that allows certain victims to have criminal convictions set aside.

Current law allows someone convicted of a nonviolent offense who’s a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence or sexual violence to ask a court to vacate their arrest and conviction.

Assembly Bill 938 — written by Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat — would expand the law to include violent crimes. It also would expand an affirmative defense they could use to any crime except murder, though a defense to felony murder would be allowed.

The bill passed and now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Susan Bustamante, convicted of assisting her brother to kill her husband, tearfully told the committee about the abuse she suffered under her husband. Presenting evidence of that abuse could have been a game changer.

Serving a sentence of life without parole, she received clemency in 2017 and was released the following year.

Opponents argued that vacating someone’s conviction would end any restitution to victims that a judge had ordered.

Bonta said that a handful of states arguably more conservative than California already have a version of her bill enshrined in law, like Georgia, Louisiana and Nebraska.