SACRAMENTO
Sen. McGuire’s legislation extending the Firefighter Bill of Rights to Seasonal Employees is signed by Gov. Newsom
As extreme wildfire conditions have taken hold across the State of California over the past several years, CalFire has become more reliant on seasonal firefighters to protect communities and save lives than ever before. Over 1,600 men and women have signed up to be seasonal firefighters this season alone.
The importance of these seasonal firefighters has also grown exponentially over the last decade with the loss of 4,000 inmate firefighter positions. And even with the increased importance of these 10-month seasonal firefighter positions, these brave men and women aren’t protected under the same workplace laws, or the Firefighter Bill of Rights, as their full time peers. This is in spite of the fact that seasonal and full time firefighters perform the same work.
This has now changed with the passage of Sen. Mike McGuire’s SB 206. This groundbreaking bill extends workplace protections under the Firefighter Bill of Rights to the 1,600 hard-working seasonal firefighters who are keeping California safe.
“Seasonal firefighters are doing the same back-breaking work as their full-time peers. They put themselves in harm’s way fighting the largest wildfires in American history and are on the front lines protecting our communities and saving lives. It’s past time for the state to provide equal protections for equal work,” McGuire said. “We are grateful to Governor Newsom for signing this critical bill and are forever grateful for the hard-working men and women protecting our state from wildfires.”
The original Firefighter Bill of Rights, passed in 2007, authorizes key workplace protections for full-time firefighters in the state of California. Seasonal firefighters, who work side by side with their full-time counterparts year after year have not been afforded these basic and crucial protections under the Firefighter Bill of Rights.
Under SB 206, seasonal firefighters, after their first year of working a season, will be included in the protections provided in the Firefighters Bill of Rights.
“California has become more reliant on seasonal firefighters over the last many years as the Golden State’s fire season has exploded: in 2020, more than 4 million acres – 4 percent of the land in California – burned in a record-setting year. This bill is a critical step in the right direction to protect seasonal firefighters who are protecting our communities,” McGuire said.
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WASHINGTON D.C.
Thompson co authors Social Security 2100 Act
On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) announced he coauthored the just-introduced Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust Act. This legislation expands on the previous versions of the Social Security 2100 Act to better strengthen and protect the Social Security program.
“Social Security is the bedrock of retirement security for millions of seniors across our nation, ensuring they can retire with the dignity they deserve. In our district alone, 144,623 Social Security beneficiaries receive $218 million each month to help them continue their retirement and stay happy and healthy in old age. That money is then spent in our district, helping to boost our local economy,” said Thompson. “This is a program that we must absolutely protect, which is why I am proud to coauthor Congressman John Larson’s Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust. This bill ensures the future of the Social Security program for generations and increases and expands benefits for beneficiaries across the board. We must pass this important bill to support our nation’s seniors.”
The Social Security 2100 Act increases and expands benefits, including improving the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), so it reflects the inflation actually experienced by seniors, improving benefits for long-serving, low-wage workers, improving benefits for widows and widowers from two-income households. The bill also provides a tax cut for middle-income beneficiaries, by raising the thresholds for taxation of Social Security benefits to $35,000 for single people and $50,000 for those who are married. The bill also permanently improves Social Security’s long-term financing, extending the trust fund reserve depletion date by four years and closing more than half of the program’s 75-year shortfall. You can visit https://larson.house.gov/sites/larson.house.gov/files/Social%20Security%202100%20-%20Fact%20Sheet%20117th.pdf to learn more.
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—Compiled by Ariel Carmona
