The Department of Labor and Industries continues to work towards wildfire smoke rulemaking under emergency rulemaking process. L&I anticipates having rules in place for this year’s fire season. The department has not yet released draft language
but has provided a general outline that suggests they will likely use California’s wildfire smoke rule as a template.
AWC Retro and our legislative staff will continue to monitor the rulemaking as it proceeds. There are a few potential areas of concern that AWC staff are monitoring.
- Proposed changes in widening scope of rule to apply to open facilities and buildings not protected by HVAC systems. This would include most of the public works and parks & rec facilities in every city.
- Other concerns are threshold triggers that require voluntary and required use of respiratory protection; uncertainty around monitoring equipment standards; and newly-defined appropriate proximity to air quality monitors.
- We are also monitoring how potential rule language could require expansion of employee groups in mandatory respiratory protection and fit testing programs.
You can review the emergency rulemaking proposal, stakeholder presentations to date, and sign up for notifications for future meetings on the wildfire smoke rulemaking page.
Contact Retro staff to discuss any proposal concerns or issues. To make formal comment on a particular issue, contact Cynthia Ireland at L&I or 360-791-5048.
Keep informed of updates and potential impacts to municipalities in the next Your Retro Resource or AWC's CityVoice. Questions? Contact the Retro team.