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SB-1646 Firefighters.(2003-2004)

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SB1646:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  May 03, 2004

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2003–2004 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1646

Introduced  by  Senator Aanestad

February 20, 2004

An act to amend Section 6303 of the Labor Code, relating to occupational safety and health. An act relating to firefighters.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1646, as amended, Aanestad. Occupational safety and health Firefighters.
Existing law provides for fire protection services in California.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to ensure that the necessary access to fire protection services is available to every resident of California, including those residing in rural areas, and to ensure that every firefighter in the state provides fire protection services in a safe and effective manner.

Existing provisions of the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 define the terms “employee” and “employment.” The definition of “employment” includes all works for hire, except household domestic service, and also includes volunteer firefighting when the firefighter is registered as an active firefighting member of a regularly organized volunteer fire department, having official recognition and full or partial support of the government of the county, city, town, or district in which the volunteer fire department is located.

This bill would exclude from the definition of “employment” those volunteer firefighters performing services for volunteer fire districts in rural areas, as defined.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.Section 6303 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
6303.

(a)“Place of employment” means any place, and the premises appurtenant thereto, where employment is carried on, except a place where the health and safety jurisdiction is vested by law in, and actively exercised by, any state or federal agency other than the division.

(b)“Employment” includes the carrying on of any trade, enterprise, project, industry, business, occupation, or work, including all excavation, demolition, and construction work, or any process or operation in any way related thereto, in which any person is engaged or permitted to work for hire, except household domestic service.

(c)“Employment,” for purposes of this division only, also includes volunteer firefighting when covered by Division 4 (commencing with Section 3200) pursuant to Section 3361 and performed for a volunteer fire district organized in a metropolitan area, but does not include volunteer firefighting performed for a volunteer fire district organized in a rural area. For purposes of this section, “rural area” means any area of the state that is not a metropolitan statistical area as described in the publication “State and Metropolitan Area Date Book,” 1997–98, 5th Edition, published by the United States Department of Commerce.

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Volunteer firefighters provide an invaluable public safety service throughout the state.
(b) In rural areas, especially those areas where the terrain varies between heavily saturated forestry, drier open fields, and larger agricultural plots, rural land mass is more susceptible to incur destructive and expansive wildfires.
(c) If there is an insufficient amount of firefighting coverage, California will be left vulnerable to fire damage.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that the necessary access to fire protection services is available to every resident of California, including those residing in rural areas, and to ensure that every firefighter in the state provides fire protection services in a safe and effective manner.