Plain English Breakdown
The official text does not define the specific tasks of a hand crew member beyond being assigned to an active fire incident; definitions are based on general context.
Paying Wages to Incarcerated Hand Crew Members
This law requires that incarcerated adults and youth working as hand crew members on active fires receive an hourly wage of $7.25 in addition to their existing sentence credits.
What This Bill Does
- Requires payment of a $7.25 hourly wage to incarcerated individual hand crew members while assigned to an active fire incident.
- Extends the same wage requirement to youth wards placed at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp who work on active fires.
- Mandates that these workers continue to receive their existing sentence credits alongside wages.
- Requires an annual review of the $7.25 hourly wage rate.
- Directs state and county agencies to maintain regulations for resolving disputes over unpaid wages.
Who It Names or Affects
- Incarcerated individuals assigned as hand crew members in conservation camps, state or county facilities, or correctional institutions.
- Youth wards placed at the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp who work on active fires.
- The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Terms To Know
- Hand crew member
- A worker assigned to a team that fights wildfires by performing manual labor tasks like clearing brush or digging fire lines.
- Ward
- A minor who is under the legal supervision of a juvenile court and placed at a conservation camp for training in wildland firefighting skills.
- Sentence credit
- Time subtracted from an inmate's required stay, often earned through good behavior or work programs like firefighting assignments.
Limits and Unknowns
- The law only requires wages for time spent on active fire incidents.
- The text does not specify the exact date when the annual wage review must occur each year.
- The bill takes effect immediately as an urgency statute, but no specific calendar start date is listed in this summary.