BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 1309|
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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1309
          Author:   Perea (D), et al.
          Amended:  9/5/13 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE  :  5-0, 7/10/13
          AYES:  Monning, Wyland, Leno, Padilla, Yee

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  61-4, 5/2/13 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Workers compensation:  professional athletes

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill creates restrictions on the ability of  
          professional athletes who play outside of California to file in  
          California for workers' compensation benefits, as specified.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law establishes a workers' compensation  
          system that provides benefits to an employee who suffers from an  
          injury or illness that arises out of and in the course of  
          employment, irrespective of fault.  This system requires all  
          employers to secure payment of benefits by either securing the  
          consent of the Department of Industrial Relations to self-insure  
          or by securing insurance against liability from an insurance  
          company duly authorized by the state.

          Existing law provides that medical, surgical, chiropractic,  
          acupuncture, and hospital treatment, including nursing,  
          medicines, medical and surgical supplies, crutches, and  
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          apparatuses, including orthotic and prosthetic devices and  
          services, that is reasonably required to cure or relieve the  
          injured worker from the effects of his/her injury shall be  
          provided by the employer.  

          Existing law provides that if an employee who has been hired or  
          is regularly employed in California receives personal injury by  
          accident arising out of and in the course of employment outside  
          of California, the employee or the employee's dependents shall  
          be entitled to compensation according to the law of California.   


          Existing law provides that, for employees hired outside of  
          California and temporarily in California, the employer and  
          his/her employer must be exempted from California's workers'  
          compensation laws while such employee is temporarily within this  
          state doing work for his/her employer if:

          1.The employer has furnished workers' compensation insurance  
            coverage under the workers' compensation insurance or similar  
            laws of a state other than California, so as to cover such  
            employee's employment while in this state; and

          2.The extraterritorial provisions of California's Workers'  
            Compensation law are recognized in such other state and  
            provided employers and employees who are covered in this state  
            are likewise exempted from the application of the workmen's  
            compensation insurance or similar laws of such other state. 

          If the following requirements are met, the laws of the other  
          state shall be the exclusive remedy against such employer for  
          any injury, whether resulting in death or not, received by such  
          employee while working for such employer in this state.

          Existing law provides that no claim to workers' compensation  
          benefits shall be maintained unless within thirty days after the  
          occurrence of the injury the employer is served notice in  
          writing, signed by the person injured or someone in his/her  
          behalf, or in case of the death of the person injured, by a  
          dependent or someone in the dependent's behalf.  

          Existing law also provides that knowledge of an injury, obtained  
          from any source, on the part of an employer, his/her managing  
          agent, superintendent, foreman, or other person in authority, or  

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          knowledge of the assertion of a claim of injury sufficient to  
          afford opportunity to the employer to make an investigation into  
          the facts, is equivalent to service of a notice described above.

          Existing law specifies that the statute of limitations to being  
          proceedings for the collection a workers' compensation claim is  
          one year from the date of injury.  

          Existing law specifies that date of injury in cases of  
          occupational diseases or cumulative injuries is that date upon  
          which the employee first suffered disability therefrom and  
          either knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should  
          have known, that such disability was caused by his/her present  
          or prior employment.  

          This bill creates restrictions on the ability of professional  
          athletes who play outside of California to file in California  
          for workers' compensation benefits.  Specifically, this bill:

          1.Exempts an employee hired outside of this state and his/her  
            employer from the occupational disease and cumulative injury  
            provisions of this state's workers' compensation laws if:

             A.   The employee is a professional athlete, defined, for  
               purposes of these provisions, to include an athlete who  
               is employed at the minor or major league level in the  
               sport of baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey, or  
               soccer.

             B.   That professional athlete is temporarily within this  
               state doing work for his/her employer.

             C.   The employer has furnished workers' compensation  
               insurance under the laws of the state other than  
               California that covers the professional athlete's  
               employment while in this state, except as specified.

          2.Deems a professional athlete to be temporarily within the  
            state doing work for his/her employer if, during the 365  
            consecutive days immediately preceding the professional  
            athlete's last day of work for the employer within the state,  
            the professional athlete performs less than 20% of his/her  
            duty days, as defined, in the state.  


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          3.Exempts a professional athlete and his/her employer from the  
            occupational disease or cumulative injury provisions of this  
            state's workers' compensation laws when all of the  
            professional athlete's employers in his/her last year of work  
            as a professional athlete are exempt from these provisions  
            unless the professional athlete has, over the course of  
            his/her professional athletic career:

             A.   Worked for two or more seasons for a California-based  
               team or teams, as defined, or worked 20% or more of  
               his/her duty days in California or for a California-based  
               team, and, over the course of his/her professional  
               career;

             B.   Worked for fewer than seven seasons for any team other  
               than a California-based team.

          4.Provide that these changes apply to all pending claims for  
            benefits filed on or after September 15, 2013, as specified.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  No   Local:  
           No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  7/10/13) (unable to reverify at time of  
          writing) (per Sen. L.I.&R analysis)

          American International Group
          Anaheim Ducks
          Angels Baseball LP
          Association of California Insurance Companies
          Bay Area Council
          California Chapters of the National Electrical Contractors  
          Association
          California Chiropractic Association
          Chivas USA
          Golden State Warriors
          International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union  
          No.18
          Liberty Mutual Group
          Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
          Los Angeles Clippers
          Los Angeles Galaxy
          Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club, LP
          Los Angeles Lakers, Inc.

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          Major League Baseball
          Major League Soccer
          National Basketball Association
          National Football League
          National Hockey League
          Sacramento Kings
          San Diego Chargers
          San Diego Padres
          San Francisco 49ers
          San Francisco Giants
          San Jose Earthquakes
          San Jose Sharks
          The Oakland Athletics
          The Oakland Raiders
          The Zenith Insurance Company
          Valley Industry and Commerce Association

           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  7/10/13) (unable to reverify at time  
          of writing) (per Sen. L.I.&R analysis)

          Albert R. Dennis, III
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,  
          AFL-CIO
          California Alliance for retired Americans
          California Applicants' Attorneys Association
          California Association of Highway Patrolmen
          California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
          California Conference of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
          California Federation of Teachers
          California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
          California Neurology Society
          California Nurses Association
          California Professional Firefighters
          California Psychological Association
          California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO
          California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery
          California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
          Consumer Attorneys of California
          Engineers and Scientists, IFPTE Local 20
          International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers  
          AFL-CIO & CLC, Local 21
          International Longshore and Warehouse Union
          JJ Stokes
          Jockeys' Guild

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          Labor Coalition
          Laborers International Union of North America
          Laborers' International Union of North America Locals 777 & 792
          Larry Kaminski
          Law Offices of Howard F. Silber
          Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
          Major League Baseball Players
          Major League Baseball Players Association
          Major League Soccer Players Union
          Monterey Bay Central Labor Council
          National Basketball Players Association 
          National Football League Players' Association
          National Hockey League Players Association
          Peace Officers Research Association of California
          Professional and Technical Engineers, IFPTE Local 21, AFL-CIO
          Professional Hockey Players Association
          Service Employees International Union California, AFL-CIO
          State Building and Construction Trades Council of California
          The Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
          The Jockeys Guild
          UNITE HERE, AFL-CIO
          United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council
          Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO
          Voters Injured at Work
          Women's National Basketball Players Association

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to proponents, out-of- state  
          professional athletes are taking advantage of loopholes in  
          California's workers' compensation system to the detriment of  
          substantial California interests, and to the detriment of  
          California sports teams.  Specifically, proponents argue that,  
          as a result of the "last employer over which California has  
          jurisdiction" rule, and the absence of an enforceable one-year  
          limitations period, California teams are facing cumulative  
          injury claims from players with extremely minimal California  
          contacts, but substantial playing histories for teams in other  
          states.  Proponents argue that the out-of-state claims are  
          clogging the workers' compensation courts with cases that should  
          be filed in another state, and causing all insured California  
          employers to absorb rapidly escalating costs being incurred by  
          CIGA.  Proponents argue that this bill will resolve this by  
          appropriately requiring that out-of-state athletes file in the  
          home state of their team, rather than in California.


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           ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION  :    Opponents argue that this bill is  
          fundamentally unfair, as the costs of the athletes' workers'  
          compensation coverage are paid out of salary cap, which limits  
          available salaries for players.  Opponents also note that the  
          workers' compensation claims made by out-of-state players do not  
          impact California taxpayers and only have a limited impact on  
          CIGA that the athletes are willing to take on.  Additionally,  
          opponents argue this bill creates additional state liabilities,  
          as injured players in California without access to California's  
          workers' compensation system will need state assistance.   
          Opponents also argue that the retroactivity of this bill is  
          fundamentally unjust and note that the "Joe Montana Exception"  
          sets too high a bar for most injured players to reach.

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  61-4, 5/2/13
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra,  
            Bonilla, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos,  
            Chau, Chávez, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson,  
            Donnelly, Eggman, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto,  
            Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,  
            Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,  
            Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,  
            Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva,  
            Salas, Stone, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Yamada,  
            John A. Pérez
          NOES:  Blumenfield, Roger Hernández, Nazarian, Rendon
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Ammiano, Atkins, Bonta, Chesbro, Fong, Grove,  
            Holden, Jones, Lowenthal, V. Manuel Pérez, Skinner, Ting,  
            Wieckowski, Williams, Vacancy


          PQ:d  9/5/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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