AB 579: Apprenticeship: fire protection: firefighter preapprenticeship program.

Existing law provides for apprenticeship programs within the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, which is within the Department of Industrial Relations, sponsored by specific entities and employers, and requires the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to perform various functions with respect to apprenticeship programs and the welfare of apprentices.

This bill would require the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, in collaboration with the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee (CAL-JAC), to develop a statewide firefighter preapprenticeship program designed to recruit candidates from underrepresented groups. This bill would require the preapprenticeship program to meet specified objectives. This bill would also require CAL-JAC to deliver the pilot classes established by the preapprenticeship program using existing facilities and training models. This bill would require CAL-JAC to provide the program model to fire protection agencies, and would authorize a fire protection agency to then use that model and related resources to establish a local preapprenticeship program for recruiting candidates from underrepresented groups. This bill would reference an appropriation made in the Budget Act of 201718 to the division to establish the preapprenticeship program and would require the division to use those funds for specified purposes.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.