FIRE Act

Increased Safety Protections: The bill expands coverage under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to include incarcerated firefighters, ensuring they have access to workplace safety and health programs (Section 2).

Fairer Wage Treatment: It amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to clarify that costs for board, lodging, or court-imposed fees should not be included in the wages paid to incarcerated firefighters (Section 3).

State Support for Safety: The bill provides $100,000,000 in grants to assist States in amending their laws to cover incarcerated firefighters under occupational safety and health regulations (Section 5).

Career Support during Reentry: It establishes a program to award grants for job training, placement services, and mentoring to help former incarcerated firefighters transition back into the workforce (Section 6).

Opportunities for Record Expungement: Eligible individuals can petition to have certain criminal records expunged, which restores them to the legal status they held before their arrest and prevents the conviction from being used to disqualify them from lawful occupations or professions (Section 7).

Reporting Burdens for States: State and local governments operating correctional facilities may be required to submit annual reports to the Attorney General and Congress regarding workplace safety, health conditions, and any injuries or deaths (Section 2, Section 4).

Restrictions on Petition Timing: Under the expungement provisions, a court may only grant a petition decretionarily after one year of successful sentence completion, while mandatory grants are not available until seven years after fulfilling sentence requirements (Section 7).

Limitations on Expungement Use: While records are expunged, the Attorney General is required to retain unaltered nonpublic copies of the records and maintain a nonpublic index (Section 7).