Wildland firefighters: Formerly Incarcerated Firefighter Certification and Employment Program.

Subdivision (c) no longer requires the department to award hiring preference to qualified formerly incarcerated individuals applying for Forestry Technician positions. It now only requires counting training and fieldwork toward minimum qualifications, removing the guaranteed hiring advantage.

Entire subdivision (g) was deleted, which had authorized the department to provide analogous hiring preferences to qualified formerly incarcerated individuals for any new entry-level classifications or positions it establishes in the future.

Added 'or any successor classifications' to both the Fire Fighter 1 and Forestry Technician hiring preference provisions in Sections 4960(b) and (c), ensuring the preferences continue to apply if the state reclassifies or renames these positions in the future.

Cleaned up contradictory certification language in Section 4960(a)(2). The Assembly version read 'certification reflective of commensurate with the individual's training and compliance with towards meeting relevant minimum requirements.' The Senate version simplified this to 'certification commensurate with the individual's training towards meeting relevant minimum requirements for Fire Fighter 1 Classification or Forestry Technician Classification.'

Added Senator Smallwood-Cuevas as a coauthor, reflecting Senate sponsorship of the bill.

Fire Fighter 1 hiring preference now requires that the applicant not only be a qualified formerly incarcerated individual but also independently 'has the required training and meets the minimum qualifications for the position' before receiving Category Placement 2 preference. Previously, meeting the qualified formerly incarcerated individual definition was sufficient.

The certification requirement was simplified from listing specific certifications (CAL-FIRE Forestry Training, S-190 Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior) to a general standard that the certification must be 'commensurate with' the individual's training and compliance towards meeting relevant minimum requirements for Fire Fighter 1 or Forestry Technician Classification.

Forestry Technician hiring preference was broadened by removing the limitation that it only applies to Forestry Technician 1 fuels mitigation assignments and does not apply to defensible space inspectors. The specific 'Rank 2 Placement' designation was also removed, leaving the rank unspecified.

Assembly Member McKinnor was added as a coauthor.

The definition of 'qualified formerly incarcerated individual' was updated to remove the separate requirement of having 'completed the FFT program' (now subsumed in the training camp completion requirement) and changed the cross-reference from Section 1203.4b of the Penal Code to Section 4951 (the new section created by this bill).

The certification requirement now applies only to 'eligible individuals who successfully complete training in a department firefighting training camp while incarcerated,' rather than all individuals who complete the FFT program. This narrows who is covered and adds a specific training location requirement.

The content of the official written certification changed from a fixed list ('shall include, but is not limited to') to a flexible standard: it must 'include certification reflective of the individual's training and compliance with relevant minimum requirements for Fire Fighter 1 Classification or Forestry Technician Classification.' The specific certifications (CAL-FIRE Forestry Training, S-190) remain listed but are now examples rather than the sole standard.

The definition of 'qualified formerly incarcerated individual' now explicitly requires that the person 'successfully completed training in a department firefighting training camp,' adding this as a separate criterion beyond completing the FFT program and participating in Conservation Camp.

Assembly Members Bryan and Zbur were added as coauthors alongside Lowenthal, indicating broader legislative support for the bill.