Fire protection: privately contracted fire prevention resources: public water sources.

Chapter number 538 was assigned and the governor's approval date of October 10, 2025 was recorded, indicating the bill became law.

Header changed from the enrolled bill format (with passage dates and clerk signatures) to the standard 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' chaptered bill format.

Header changed from showing amendment history dates to showing final passage dates (Assembly passed September 9, 2025; Senate passed September 8, 2025) and added Governor receipt/approval lines.

Line numbers (line 1 through line 12) were removed from the statutory text of Section 14868.

The legislative counsel's digest was reformatted with different line breaks and indentation but contains the same substantive content.

The term 'privately contracted firefighters' is replaced with 'privately contracted private fire prevention resources' throughout, broadening the bill's applicability beyond just individual firefighters to cover all privately contracted fire prevention resources (which could include equipment operators, support personnel, etc.).

A new subsection (c) is added stating that nothing in the section shall alter, impair, or interfere with the authority of a community water system to operate a water distribution system as defined in Section 116275. This is a savings clause that preserves existing community water system authority under the California Safe Drinking Water Act.

A new condition is added to subsection (4): in addition to approval by incident command or the authority having jurisdiction, the equipment must include a backflow prevention device before it can be hooked up to public water sources. This is a technical safety requirement to prevent contamination of public water systems.

The prohibition on hooking up equipment to public water sources now applies to 'privately contracted private fire prevention resources' instead of only 'privately contracted firefighters,' broadening the class of entities that must obtain approval from incident command or the authority having jurisdiction.

The legislative digest title was updated from 'Fire protection: privately contracted firefighters: public water sources' to 'Fire protection: privately contracted firefighters: fire prevention resources: public water sources,' reflecting the expanded terminology used in the bill text.

The prohibition on privately contracted firefighters connecting equipment to public water sources is no longer absolute. An exception was added allowing such connections when approved by incident command or the authority having jurisdiction over the active fire incident.

Senator Cervantes was added as a principal coauthor alongside Assembly Member McKinnor, indicating broader bipartisan or cross-chamber sponsorship.