Assemblyman Heath Flora recently announced his Firefighter Pre-Apprenticeship Program bill, Assembly Bill 579, was passed unanimously out of Governmental Organization Committee. The bill’s next stop is Labor and Employment Committee before heading to Appropriations and then finally a full vote on the Assembly floor. AB 579 would require the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, in conjunction with the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee (Cal-JAC), to develop a statewide firefighter pre-apprenticeship program to aid local fire agencies in recruiting candidates from underrepresented demographic groups.