Enrolled  August 26, 2022
Passed  IN  Senate  August 24, 2022
Passed  IN  Assembly  August 22, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  August 15, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 23, 2022
Amended  IN  Senate  March 16, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 936

Introduced by Senator Glazer
(Coauthors: Senators Archuleta, Becker, Caballero, Hertzberg, and Stern)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bauer-Kahan, Levine, Quirk, and Seyarto)

February 07, 2022

An act to add Section 14415.7 to the Public Resources Code, relating to resource conservation.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 936, Glazer. California Conservation Corps: forestry training center: formerly incarcerated individuals: reporting.
Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps in the Natural Resources Agency and requires the corps to implement and administer the conservation corps program. Existing law authorizes the Director of the California Conservation Corps to establish the Education and Employment Reentry Program within the corps to develop, partner with, and create opportunities for certain forestry corps program objectives, collaborate with the Employment Development Department to provide access to workforce services, collaborate with nongovernmental organizations dedicated to providing access to counseling, mentorship, supportive housing, health care, and educational opportunities, and employ collaborations and partnerships available to the corps, as specified.
This bill would require the director, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute, in partnership with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, to establish a forestry training center in northern California to provide enhanced training, education, work experience, and job readiness for entry-level forestry and vegetation management jobs. The bill would require the training center to include counseling, mentorship, supportive housing, health care, and educational services and authorize the training center to provide training modules on specified activities. The bill would require the director to enroll at the training center formerly incarcerated individuals and to prioritize enrollment for those formerly incarcerated individuals who have either successfully served on a California Conservation Camp program crew and were recommended by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as provided, or successfully served on a hand crew at the county level and were recommended for participation by the county probation and county fire departments. The bill would provide that successful completion of a training program at the training center constitutes qualifying experience for an entry-level forestry or vegetation management position at a state agency.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for northern California.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 14415.7 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

14415.7.
 (a) (1) Upon appropriation by the Legislature for purposes of this section in the annual Budget Act or another statute, the director, in partnership with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, shall establish a forestry training center in northern California to provide enhanced training, education, work experience, and job readiness for entry-level forestry and vegetation management jobs.
(2) The training center shall focus on forestry, consistent with this chapter, and include counseling, mentorship, supportive housing, health care, and educational services as identified in subdivision (c) of Section 14415.4.
(3) The training center may include training modules on the activities identified in Section 14415.3.
(b) The director shall enroll at the training center formerly incarcerated individuals and prioritize enrollment for those formerly incarcerated individuals who meet either of the following requirements:
(1) Successfully served on a California Conservation Camp program crew and were recommended by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Director of Forestry and Fire Protection or the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation may designate a person from the respective department to make this recommendation.
(2) Successfully served on a hand crew at the county level and were recommended for participation by the county probation and county fire departments.
(c) The director may enroll corpsmembers and local community conservation corpsmembers at the training center if funding and resources allow.
(d) Successful completion of a training program at the training center shall constitute qualifying experience for an entry-level forestry or vegetation management position at a state agency.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique ecological needs of northern California in reducing the impact of wildfires in the region.