BILL NUMBER: SB 714	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Battin

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2003

   An act to add Section 5705.1 to the Labor Code, relating to
workers' compensation.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 714, as introduced, Battin.  Workers' compensation:
apportionment.
   Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to
compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or
her employment.  Under this system, the Workers' Compensation
Appeals Board has jurisdiction to determine these claims, including
determinations regarding apportionment of injury.
   This bill would provide that in denying apportionment, the appeals
board may not, in determining permanent disability, rely on any
medical report that fails to fully address the issue of apportionment
and fails to set forth the basis for the medical opinion, on any
medical report that fails to apportion a previous injury or illness
that has been the subject of a prior claim for damages, or on any
medical report that fails to provide a discussion of the medical
processes by which a previously asserted injury or illness resolved
without affecting bodily function.  This bill would also provide that
if an applicant has received a prior award of permanent disability,
it shall be conclusively presumed that the prior permanent disability
exists at the time of any subsequent industrial injury.  This bill
would also prohibit the payment of permanent disability and death
benefits unless the industrial injury has contributed at least 10% to
the cause of the death or disability when compared to all causes of
injury in total.
   Existing law specifies which party must bear the burden of proof
in various aspects of workers' compensation proceedings.
   This bill would provide that the burden of proof for apportionment
regarding permanent disability, as specified, shall rest on the
defendant and would specify the standard of proof.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 5705.1 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   5705.1.  (a) The burden of proof for the apportionment regarding
permanent disability under Sections 4663, 4750, and 4750.5 shall rest
upon the defendant.  In accordance with Section 3202.5, the
defendant shall demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence, and
by reasonable medical probability, that absent the industrial injury,
the injured worker had lost, as a consequence of a preexisting
injury or illness, some capacity to perform the activity affected by
the injury.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code relating to
workers' compensation benefits, including Section 4062.9, in denying
apportionment the appeals board may not, in determining permanent
disability, rely on any medical report that fails to fully address
the issue of apportionment and fails to set forth the basis of the
medical opinion.  In denying apportionment, the appeals board may not
rely on any medical report that fails to apportion a previous injury
or illness that has been the subject of a prior claim for damages or
that fails to provide a discussion of the medical processes by which
a previously asserted injury or illness resolved without affecting
bodily function.
   (c) If the applicant has received a prior award of permanent
disability, it shall be conclusively presumed that the prior
permanent disability exists at the time of any subsequent industrial
injury.
   (d) Permanent disability or death benefits shall not be payable
unless the industrial injury has contributed at least 10 percent to
the cause of the disability or death when compared to all causes of
injury in total.