BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 221| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 221 Author: Jackson (D), et al. Amended: 7/9/15 Vote: 21 SENATE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: 5-0, 4/14/15 AYES: Nielsen, Hueso, Allen, Nguyen, Roth SENATE PUBLIC EMP. & RET. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 4/27/15 AYES: Pan, Morrell, Beall, Fuller, Hall SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/28/15 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen SENATE FLOOR: 40-0, 6/1/15 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/1/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: State public employees: sick leave: veterans with service-related disabilities SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill permits state employees, who are military veterans with service-connected disabilities, to receive 96 hours of additional sick leave dedicated to health care treatment of those disabilities. SB 221 Page 2 Assembly Amendments add the name "The California Wounded Warriors Transitional Leave Act" to this program, and add coauthors. ANALYSIS: Existing federal law directs the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) to analyze and rate the service-connected disabilities of qualified military veterans, and to provide health care treatment and monetary compensation to veterans with rated, service-connected disabilities. Existing state law: 1)Provides that state agency employees may accrue and apply sick leave, and establishes procedures for agency administration of those sick leave benefits. 2)Authorizes the Legislature to provide preferences to veterans and their surviving spouses in state employment. (California Constitution) This bill: 1)Enacts the California Wounded Warriors Transitional Leave Act. 2)Grants a state officer or employee, who is a military veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 30% or more by USDVA, and is hired on or after January 1, 2016, an additional SB 221 Page 3 credit for sick leave with pay of up to 96 hours. 3)Limits use of this sick leave to medical treatment of the employee's military service-connected disability. 4)Requires that this sick leave be credited on the first day of employment and remain available for use for the following 12 months of employment. 5)Prohibits this sick leave from being carried over after 12 months. 6)Permits employing agencies to require "submission of satisfactory proof" that the sick leave is being used for treatment of a service-connected disability, pursuant to rules adopted by the Department of Human Resources (CalHR). Background Sick leave for state employees. Employees of California state government agencies are eligible to accrue sick leave credits, which they may use to take time off from work at full pay. Provided they have sufficient accrued credits, sick leave compensates employees during periods of absence due to: SB 221 Page 4 Being physically or mentally unable to work due to illness or injury. Obtaining professional diagnosis of treatment for a medical condition. Other medical reasons, such as pregnancy or obtaining a physical examination. Attending to illness of a child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner. The Government and Labor codes contain provisions for sick leave with actual benefits for represented employees further specified by collective bargaining agreements or memorandums of understanding. Benefits for nonrepresented employees - those designated as managerial, supervisory, and confidential - are further specified in CalHR regulations. Federal benefits for service-connected disabilities. USDVA provides health care treatment and monetary compensation to veterans with service-connected disabilities. 1)Health care: USDVA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) operates the nation's largest integrated health care system with over 1,700 sites of care, serving 8.76 million veterans each year. California veterans are served by the numerous hospitals and clinics owned, operated, and administered by the VHA. 2)Disability compensation: USDVA's Veterans Benefits Administration provides disability compensation as a tax-free monetary benefit to veterans rated with disabilities incurred or aggravated during active military service. Compensation may also be paid for post-service disabilities that are considered related or secondary to disabilities occurring in service and for disabilities presumed to be related to circumstances of military service, even though they may arise after service. The degrees of disability specified are also designed to compensate for considerable loss of working time from exacerbations or illnesses. SB 221 Page 5 USDVA disability ratings. The USDVA rates disabilities to facilitate health care and compensation claims for injuries or diseases that happened during active duty, or were made worse by active military service. The amount of basic benefit paid varies depending on the rated severity of the condition. A veteran need not be totally disabled in order to be eligible for compensation. USDVA rates disability along a continuum of 0% to 100% in 10% increments, depending upon the level of disability determined. The disability percentage also can be derived by analyzing the composite condition of an individual veteran with multiple disabilities. The 10% rating is the lowest for which compensable income is awarded. A veteran with a 100% rating will have one or more disabilities that significantly interfere with normal life functions. A veteran with a 0% rating may have a service-connected condition, but the condition does not interfere with normal life functions. The majority of disabled veterans are rated between 10% to 30%. As time passes, a veteran's disability claim may require re-rating. Re-ratings can be triggered by changes in law, advances in medical knowledge, or fluctuations in the veteran's physical or mental condition. A re-rating can cause an individual's percentage to go up or down. Prior Legislation AB 1522 (Gonzalez, Chapter 317, Statutes of 2014), the "Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014," among other things: Provides, for the purposes of the Act, that "employer" includes the state, political subdivisions of the state, and municipalities. SB 221 Page 6 Entitles an employee, who works in California for seven or more days in a calendar year, to paid sick days, as specified, on and after July 1, 2015. Provides that an employee shall accrue paid sick days at the rate of not less than one hour per every 30 hours worked, beginning at the commencement of employment or the operative date of the bill, whichever is later. Provides that an employee shall be entitled to use accrued paid sick days beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment, after which the employee may use paid sick days as they are accrued. Provides that an "employee" does not include an employee covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that expressly provides for paid sick days or similar policy, as specified. AB 1397 (Committee on Veterans Affairs, Chapter 645, Statutes of 2014) adds veterans preference to the list of selection devices that CalHR must review and examine the validity of, and adds veterans status to the list of specified data collected in order to determine utilization of certain groups. SB 221 Page 7 FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: Unknown, but potentially significant General and Special Fund costs to state agencies, in excess of $150,000, as a result of granting additional sick leave credit; potentially minor administrative costs to modify systems and procedures and monitor compliance. Potential cost savings to state agencies that provide services to disabled veterans to the extent the additional sick leave affords those veterans greater access to their federal veterans benefits. SUPPORT: (Verified9/1/15) American Legion - Department of California AMVETS - Department of California California Association of County Veterans Service Officers California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO California State Commanders Veteran Council Military Officers Association of America - California Council of Chapters National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter Veterans of Foreign Wars - Department of California Vietnam Veterans of American - California State Council OPPOSITION: (Verified9/1/15) SB 221 Page 8 None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/1/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins Prepared by:Wade Cooper Teasdale / V.A. / (916) 651-1503 9/1/15 21:35:20 **** END ****