California Conservation Camp program: formerly incarcerated individuals: certifications: Department of Forestry and Fire Protection hiring priority.

Existing law establishes the California Conservation Camp program to provide for the training and use of inmates and wards assigned to conservation camps to perform public conservation projects, including, but not limited to, forest fire prevention and control, forest and watershed management, recreation, fish and game management, soil conservation, and forest and watershed revegetation. Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to utilize inmates and wards assigned to conservation camps in performing fire prevention, fire control, and other work of the department, as provided. This bill would require the department, by January 1, 2026, to modify its training program for inmate firefighters serving as members of a hand crew through the California Conservation Camp program to provide participants the opportunity to earn a specified list of certifications related to firefighting, or the department's equivalents of those certifications, while incarcerated. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, require the department to update its application process for Type 1 Hand Crew positions to recognize certifications earned by formerly incarcerated individuals through participation in the California Conservation Camp program. The bill would also require the department to establish rules that provide eligibility priority rankings in the application, interview, and hiring process to formerly incarcerated individuals who earned certifications through participation in a California Conservation Camp program.