BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1373
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1373 (John A. Pérez)
As Amended August 26, 2013
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |60-12|(May 2, 2013) |SENATE: |36-0 |(September 9, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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Original Committee Reference: INS.
SUMMARY : Extends the statute of limitations in certain
circumstances for dependents of public safety officers to file a
workers' compensation claim for death benefits. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires that workers' compensation claims for death benefits
for the dependents of public safety officers be filed within
480 weeks from the date of injury, but no later than one year
from the date of death, if the claim involves the following
illnesses:
a) Cancer, including leukemia;
b) Tuberculosis;
c) Blood-borne infectious diseases, including
methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
2)Specifies the public safety officers to whom this extended
limitations period will apply.
3)Limits the extended limitations period to cases where the date
of injury is during the employee's active service.
4)Provides that the extended limitations period does not apply
to any claims that have already been adjudicated or otherwise
finalized, or for which the limitations period has already
lapsed as of December 31, 2013.
5)Specifies that the dependents to whom the death benefit will
be available are the dependent or dependents on the date of
death.
AB 1373
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes a comprehensive system for providing benefits to
workers injured on the job, including death benefits payable
to dependents.
2)Provides generally that an injured worker bears the burden to
establish that the injury for which benefits are claimed arose
out of or in the course of employment.
3)Provides, for specified peace officer and firefighter
employees, that certain injuries or conditions are presumed to
have arisen out of or in the course of employment.
4)Specifies in great detail which firefighters and peace
officers are entitled to the various presumptions.
5)Provides for a statute of limitations defining the period
within which a claim for benefits must be filed, and with
respect to death benefits, specifies that the claim must be
filed within one year of the later of:
a) The date of death, if death occurs less than one year
from the date of injury, or
b) The date of last furnishing of benefits, if death occurs
more than one year from the date of injury, or
c) The date of death, if death occurs more than one year
after the date of injury and compensation benefits have
been furnished.
6)Provides further that, notwithstanding the above limitations,
no proceedings may be commenced later than one year after the
date of death or 240 weeks after the date of injury.
7)Establishes special rules governing the period within which
proceedings must be commenced for asbestosis and HIV/AIDS
cases.
8)Establishes a schedule of death benefits, with specific
amounts due depending on whether the dependent is fully or
partially dependent, and depending on the number of fully or
partially dependent beneficiaries. Depending on the
circumstances, the death benefits can be in excess of
AB 1373
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$300,000.
9)Provides that when a person otherwise entitled to death
benefits has no dependents, the benefits shall be paid to the
state, and credited to the uninsured employers fund, which
pays for benefits to injured workers who were employed by an
illegally uninsured employer.
10)Specifies that questions about full or partial dependency,
and questions about who the dependents are, shall be
determined "in accordance with the facts as they exist at the
time of the injury of the employee."
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, there would be an increase in workers' compensation
costs for state employees who are firefighters and peace
officers. The specific state departments that would be impacted
are the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)
and the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The amount of the
increase is unknown.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose . According to the author, and the sponsor the
California Professional Firefighters, there are cases where
current law unfairly harms the dependents of fallen public
safety officers. In circumstances where a safety officer dies
more than 240 weeks after a diagnosis of the condition that
causes death, current law fails to protect surviving
dependents. However, there are conditions where survival for
more than 240 weeks after diagnosis is not uncommon, notably a
cancer that goes temporarily into remission, or a blood-borne
disease that results in a debilitating but long, slow decline.
2)Date of injury . In many cases under current law, a public
safety officer is entitled to file a workers' compensation
claim for up to five years after terminating employment. This
bill, however, limits application of the extended limitations
period to cases where the date of injury was during the period
of active employment. This limitation is designed to ensure
that the public agencies that will be responsible to paying
these claims will have timely actual notice that this sort of
benefit might arise in the future.
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3)Dependents . Because the bill contemplates that there may be
several years after the "date of injury" (diagnosis) and the
resulting death, it provides for a different rule to identify
which dependents are entitled to benefits. Current law fixes
the identification of dependency at the date of injury,
whereas the bill, more appropriately in these cases, fixes the
identification of dependency on the date of death.
4)Prior legislation . Last year, AB 2451 (John A. Pérez) also
proposed to extend the statute of limitations in presumption
cases. AB 2451 was significantly broader in at least two
respects: it also applied to death resulting from heart
conditions, and it did not limit the cases where the extended
limitations period applied to those where the date of injury
was during active employment. Rather, AB 2451 would have
applied regardless of when the condition arose, resulting in
significantly more uncertainty, and significantly more cases,
than this bill will apply to. Governor Brown vetoed AB 2451.
Analysis Prepared by : Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086
FN: 0002213