California Professional Firefighters

AB 2331 - Firefighter Bill of Rights Clarification

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D- Berkeley) amended AB 2331 on May 28, 2010, to address an issue raised by the Palo Alto Firefighters in a resolution that was adopted at the 2008 CPF Biennial Convention.

In its previous form, AB 2331related to the California Fire Fighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee (CFFJAC) and its displaced firefighting hiring list.

This bill clarifies the appeals procedure outlined in the Firefighter Procedural Bill of Rights (AB 220, Statutes of 2007, Chapter 591), a set of basic procedural guidelines that take into account the unique role of first responders. Now that Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act has been in effect for a few years, firefighter organizations and their employers are realizing that the current application of the law may not clearly provide for an alternative, collectively bargained appeals procedure.

With that, it's evident that the provisions of the Act governing the administrative appeals process are in need of clarification -- specifically, with respect to those jurisdictions that have effectively mitigated past appeals through a locally-adopted grievance arbitration procedure. Rather than strapping these jurisdictions with the hefty cost of revamping their appeals process to conform with Office of Administrative Law rules under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) -- costs that in many cases would be prohibitive given the current economic climate -- AB 2331 allows jurisdictions to retain and utilize their existing, effective grievance arbitration appeals process as an acceptable alternative to the APA process for issues arising from the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act.

This bill as amended has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it was approved unanimously on June 22, 2010. This bill was approved by the Senate floor with no "no" votes on August 24th, the Assembly floor then approved the amendments on August 27th, with no "no" votes. This bill was signed into law by the Governor on September 30, 2010 and will take effect on January 1, 2011.

For more information please email CPF Legislative Director Amy Howard.