Marin Firefighter News

California’s longest budget stalemate in history came to an end yesterday, when the Legislature approved a state spending plan in the early hours of the morning and sent it to the Governor. Shortly after the budget deal was approved, lawmakers released some 850 bills, including a handful of CPF-sponsored or co-sponsored measures that had been approved by the Legislature in recent weeks, but were held back in light of the “No Budget. No Bill Signatures.” moratorium issued by the Governor last month.

The CFFJAC’s groundbreaking system for testing the next generation of California firefighters is expanding again, with the announcement of the third CPAT Testing Center. Located a stone’s throw from the State Capitol, the new Sacramento CFFJAC CPAT Testing Center is dedicated solely to the administration of the CPAT – the Candidate Physical Ability Test.

For the first time ever, the second year of the regular two-year legislative session recessed August 31st with the passage of roughly 1,000 bills … the 2008-09 State Budget bill, however, was not one of those bills. As of this writing, California faces the 67th day in what has turned out to be the longest state budget impasse in our state’s history.

CPF joined local public safety agencies and Gov. Schwarzenegger Tuesday morning in a call for a state budget resolution. CPF President Lou Paulson joined health care workers, school and other public safety officials, to highlight the impact of the budget impasse on the communities they serve.

With California in the grips of its third catastrophic fire season in five years, CPF is backing an effort that seeks to check uncontrolled growth in the state's fire-prone wildlands. Assembly Bill 2447 would require that any new construction in the wildland-urban interface pass a simple test before it is approved -- can it be protected from devastating wildfire.