BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 375|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 375
Author: Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee
Amended: 8/5/13
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 5/8/13
AYES: Lieu, Wyland, Leno, Padilla, Yee
SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/20/13 (Consent)
AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Calderon, Cannella,
Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Evans, Fuller, Gaines,
Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Knight, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley,
Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson, Lara, Price, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 8/15/13 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Workers compensation: technical clean-up
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill contains a number of corrections to
erroneous cross-references and other technical clean-up
provisions to the 2012 workers compensation reform.
Assembly Amendments add numerous corrections to erroneous
cross-references and other technical clean-up provisions to the
2012 workers' compensation reform.
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SB 375
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2
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Authorizes the Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) to
establish a program to certify interpreters for
administrative hearings and medical examinations.
2. Authorizes a qualified medical evaluators (QMEs) to evaluate
an injured worker to make recommendations concerning
"medical-legal" issues that affect the benefits that may be
owed to the injured worker in the workers' compensation
system, including permanent disability benefits.
3. Establishes an independent medical review (IMR) system to
resolve medical disputes in the workers' compensation system,
patterned after the IMR process used for health insurance
disputes, and prohibits a physician who is a QME from also
serving as an independent medical reviewer.
4. Prohibits the filing of a declaration of readiness to proceed
to hearing on permanent disability matters unless both the
treating physician and either a QME or an agreed medical
evaluator (AME) has evaluated the injured worker.
5. Authorizes medical providers to file a lien in the event of a
dispute over medical services provided to an injured worker,
and authorizes the Worker's Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB)
to resolve any disputes concerning liens in separate
proceedings from the proceedings on the underlying workers'
compensation claim.
This bill contains a number of corrections to erroneous
cross-references and other technical clean-up provisions to the
2012 workers' compensation reform. Specifically, this bill:
1. Corrects an erroneous reference to "administrative hearing"
interpreters by replacing the phrase with "medical
examination" interpreters.
2. Corrects two inaccurate Labor Code citations that relate to
regulations to be adopted by the Administrative Director (AD)
of DWC relating to QMEs.
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SB 375
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3
3. Corrects an erroneous cross-reference with respect to the
prohibition against independent medical reviewers also being
QMEs.
4. Adds an accidentally neglected cross reference in two places
concerning the duties of a QME or the AD with respect to
calculating permanent disability benefits.
5. Clarifies that a bar against commencing proceedings involving
permanent disability benefits before the WCAB absent an
evaluation by the treating physician and either a QME or an
AME only applies to cases where there is a dispute relating
to those benefits.
6. Corrects an erroneous reference to the "plan" (a "health
plan" as defined in the Knox-Keene health care service plan
law) in the workers' compensation IMR law, and replaces that
term with "employer."
7. Corrects an erroneous Labor Code citation in the provision
that establishes WCAB authority to handle liens outside of
the regular workers' compensation adjudicatory process.
8. Corrects an erroneous cross-reference to the Civil Code's
definition of personal medical information on the provision
governing limitations on the medical information that a lien
claimant for medical bills can obtain concerning the injured
worker.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 08/15/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell,
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SB 375
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Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson,
Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski,
Wilk, Williams, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, John A. P�rez, Vacancy, Vacancy
PQ:d:n 8/16/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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