BILL NUMBER: SB 1222	CHAPTERED  10/13/01

	CHAPTER  835
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  OCTOBER 13, 2001
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  OCTOBER 12, 2001
	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 14, 2001
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 13, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 12, 2001
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 26, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Romero
   (Principal coauthor:  Senator Torlakson)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members La Suer and Washington)

                        MARCH 19, 2001

   An act to add Section 3212.10 to the Labor Code, relating to
workers' compensation.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1222, Romero.  Workers' compensation.
   Under existing law, a person injured in the course of employment
is generally entitled to receive workers' compensation on account of
that injury.  Existing law provides that, in the case of certain law
enforcement personnel, the term "injury" includes various medical
conditions that are developed or manifested during a period while the
person is in that service, and establishes a disputable presumption
in this regard.
   This bill would provide that in the case of certain peace officers
of the Department of Corrections, the Department of the Youth
Authority, and local agencies, the term "injury" includes heart
trouble, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and meningitis that develops or
manifests itself during a period while the person is in that service.



THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Many convicted criminals who are incarcerated or supervised at
the state and local levels are persons who have engaged in patterns
of high-risk behavior and carry diseases and levels of infection that
greatly exceed those of the general population of the state.
   (b) State correctional peace officers and probation officers are
subjected to constant exposure to the diseases and illnesses of the
convicted criminals that they directly supervise.
   (c) The duties of state correctional peace officers and probation
officers include daily, direct, and close supervision of these
persons, and require physical intervention in the event of
disturbances or emergencies.  These actions involve contacts
resulting in inadvertent and frequently deliberate transfer of bodily
fluids such as saliva, urine, feces, blood, and other substances.
These contacts facilitate the transmission of communicable diseases
and illnesses.
   (d) During the calendar year of 1999, 3,224 staff were assaulted
by inmates and wards in California correctional facilities and 691
staff were assaulted by inmates at local probation facilities.
Coupling these assaults with other incidental and direct contacts
with the inmate and parolee population, correctional peace officers
are placed at high risk for contracting communicable diseases and
illnesses.
   (e) For these reasons, it is incumbent upon the state to provide
for the health and welfare of officers whose daily physical
well-being is placed at risk in the normal course of their
employment.
   (f) Therefore, it is appropriate to amend workers' compensation
law to presume that communicable and infectious diseases or
illnesses, which manifest themselves in correctional peace officers
and probation officers, were contracted during the course of their
employment, and it is accordingly necessary to provide health,
rehabilitative, and other benefits to the injured workers in an
expeditious manner.
  SEC. 2.  Section 3212.10 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   3212.10.  In the case of a peace officer of the Department of
Corrections who has custodial or supervisory duties of inmates or
parolees, or a peace officer of the Department of Youth Authority who
has custodial or supervisory supervisory duties of wards or
parolees, or a peace officer as defined in Section 830.5 of the Penal
Code and employed by a local agency, the term "injury" as used in
this division includes heart trouble, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and
meningitis that develops or manifests itself during a period in which
any peace officer covered under this section is in the service of
the department or unit.  The compensation that is awarded for that
injury shall include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment,
disability indemnity, and death benefits as provided by the
provisions of this division.
   The heart trouble, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and meningitis so
developing or manifesting itself shall be presumed to arise out of
and in the course of employment.  This presumption is disputable and
may be controverted by other evidence, but unless so controverted,
the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with it.  This
presumption shall be extended to a member following termination of
service for a period of three calendar months for each full year of
requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance,
commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified
capacity.