BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          SB 770 (Jackson) - Unemployment Compensation: Disability  
          Benefits: Paid Family Leave
          
          Amended: As Introduced          Policy Vote: L&IR 3-1
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: May 23, 2013      Consultant: Robert Ingenito
          
          SUSPENSE FILE.


          Bill Summary: SB 770 would expand the definition of family  
          within the Paid Family Leave program to allow workers to receive  
          partial wage replacement benefits while taking care of seriously  
          ill, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and parents-in-law.

          Fiscal Impact: The number of additional claims that would be  
          filed as a result of this measure is unknown. Employment  
          Development Department (EDD) estimates that the additional  
          benefit costs would be $34 to $36 million annually.  This  
          estimate assumes a 50 percent increase in payable PFL care  
          claims and is the estimated maximum potential liability to the  
          Fund.  The estimated additional benefit costs represent about  
          seven percent of the total PFL benefits paid in a year, and  
          would be a lesser percent when factoring in all Disability  
          Insurance benefits paid from the same fund. 

          The increased claim workload would require additional staff with  
          costs to EDD estimated at approximately $725,700 ongoing. There  
          would also be one-time Information Technology costs of  
          approximately $61,200 to modify forms and make changes to the  
          online claim filing system to include the additional covered  
          family members.

          All costs are covered by the Disability Insurance Trust Fund  
          that is comprised of employee contributions.  

          Background: Under current law, the Paid Family Leave Program  
          (PFL), a component of State Disability Insurance, provides  
          employees with wage replacement benefits for six weeks of leave  
          within any 12 month period for the following reasons:
                 To care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent or  
               domestic partner.








          SB 770 (Jackson)
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                 To bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or  
               placed for foster care with the employee.

          Additionally, current law defines "child," "domestic partner,"  
          "parent," "spouse," and "serious health condition," and does not  
          ensure job protection for employees taking leave.

          Proposed Law: This bill would expand the eligibility for Paid  
          Family Leave (PFL) benefits by allowing an individual to  
          potentially qualify for benefits to care for an ill sibling,  
          parent-in-law, grandparent, or grandchild.  Currently, these  
          four family relationships are not covered under the PFL program.  
           The current covered relationships are: child, parent (not  
          including parents-in-law), spouse, and registered domestic  
          partner.

          Related Legislation: 
               SB 727 (Kuehl, 2007) would have expanded the circumstances  
              under which an employee is entitled to utilize the Paid  
              Family Leave Program to include grandparents, grandchildren,  
              siblings and parents-in-law. The bill was vetoed by Governor  
              Schwarzenegger.