California lawmakers and activists are resurrecting a legislative effort to help inmate firefighters begin a career in the field after they’re freed, hoping to ease the restrictions that have traditionally locked ex-offenders out of the profession.

The bill, introduced last month by Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, D-San Bernardino, would open a pathway for individuals “who have demonstrated rehabilitation and desire to work as firefighters.”

While the bill’s language so far only includes legislative intent, the state’s largest firefighter union has come out in opposition to the measure, saying lawbreakers don’t meet the high standards that the career demands.

“If a firefighter who was on the job was to do any of the things these incarcerated individuals have done, they would lose their jobs,” said Carroll Wills, communications director of California Professional Firefighters, an association of local firefighter union affiliates, representing over 30,000 members throughout the state. “These individuals are coming into people’s homes, providing medical attention... (the public has) an expectation of trust for people coming into their homes.”

The bill’s supporters say the current restrictions go too far — they shut out thousands of people with criminal records and could amount to racial discrimination. Though its details haven’t been finalized, supporters say the bill would ease barriers that prohibit people with even low-level or older felony criminal convictions from becoming an emergency medical technician and result in a more holistic assessment of each candidate.

“We’re not saying open the door to anyone getting the job,” said Katherine Katcher, executive director of the Oakland advocacy group Root & Rebound. “Instead, have an individualized assessment and don’t dehumanize, don’t further marginalize. Look at (inmates) as human beings.”

Since the 1940s, inmate firefighters have served a vital role in battling the state’s deadly wildfires. It’s tough, manual labor — digging fire lines and clearing brush alongside their full-time counterparts.

The compensation averages only about $2 a day (plus an additional $1 per hour when they’re fighting an active fire), but among those in lockup it’s a coveted position. It pays more than other inmate jobs, knocks time off sentences and provides participants with a sense of purpose important for rehabilitation, supporters say.

In 2018, there were about 3,700 inmates working at fire camps, including about 2,600 who were fire-line qualified, accounting for more than 20 percent of the roughly 17,000 individuals assigned to the fires in peak season, according to prison and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection records.

The program has been estimated to save the state $100 million annually.

But for most inmate firefighters, the time they’ll serve as a firefighter is limited to the time they’ll serve as an inmate.

Any seeking to leverage their experience into a career must meet requirements before acquiring an EMT certification, which is required for city and county firefighting jobs.

California law states that certifications must be denied or revoked for multiple reasons, including if the person has been convicted of two or more felonies, if the applicant is on probation or parole for any felony, or if they’ve been incarcerated for any felony in the past 10 years. Supporters of that law say they engender trust in the communities they serve — EMTs often handle patients when they’re at their most vulnerable.

While inmate hand crews help fight wildland fires, “they are not firefighters,” said Wills, the firefighter union spokesman.

“They are not in emergency mitigation, not treating patients and responding to medical calls,” he said.

Wills said there’s no worker supply problem in California — if firefighters are exhausted on the front lines, it’s because there aren’t enough open positions.

“We have hundreds of men and women who are patiently going through the process of getting the education, taking the tests, doing everything they need to do to become firefighters,” he said. “There’s no shortage of firefighter candidates.”

A similar measure essentially failed during last year’s legislative session and was turned into a data collection bill. This year’s supporters say they’re troubled by the union’s resistance.

“I think it’s deeply concerning that they haven’t seen language, and that their starting point is to say, ‘These are not real firefighters, they have not taken an oath, and therefore we don’t need to entertain this,’” Katcher said.

Because the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts people of color, the practice of shutting out people with convictions can be used to shut out people of certain races from jobs, said Katcher’s colleague Eva DeLair, associate director of policy advocacy at Root & Rebound.

“We want people to be judged on their individual merit,” she said, “not excluded currently because of mistakes they have made in the past.”

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy