BILL ANALYSIS
AB 948
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Joe Coto, Chair
AB 948 (Logue) - As Introduced: February 26, 2009
SUBJECT : Workers' compensation: supplemental job displacement
benefits
SUMMARY : Provides that a mandatory notice to an injured worker
relating to supplemental job displacement benefits can be
delayed until such time as work restrictions are known, if these
restrictions are not known at the time notice is currently
required.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that, under specified instances, when an injury
causes permanent partial disability and the injured employee
does not return to work for the employer within 60 days of the
termination of the temporary disability, the injured employee
is eligible for a supplemental job displacement benefit in the
form of a voucher for education-related retraining or skill
enhancement at state-approved or accredited schools. This is
in accordance with a schedule ranging from $4,000 when the
permanent partial disability is less than 15% to $10,000 when
the permanent partial disability is between 50% and 99%.
2)Specifies that the voucher may be used for tuition, fees,
books, and other education or skill enhancement expenses. No
more than 10 percent of the voucher moneys may be used for
vocational or return to work counseling.
3)Requires the employer to provide the employee the information
about these rights within 10 days of the last payment of
temporary disability.
FISCAL EFFECT : Undetermined.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose . The author introduced this bill at the request of
the Placer County Board of Supervisors to address the concern
that the current notice requirement mandates providing notice
to an injured employee about a benefit at a time when the
AB 948
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factors that determine the extent of that benefit may not be
known. Specifically, the dollar amount of the job training
voucher varies depending on the extent of permanent partial
disability, and this is frequently not known at the time the
notice is required. The proposed solution is to delay the
notice in these circumstances.
2)Prior legislation . Last Session, AB 1636 (Mendoza) proposed a
different solution to this problem. AB 1636 proposed to
require an estimate of the extent of permanent disability so
that the job retraining process could commence in a more
timely manner. Mr. Mendoza argued that delaying retraining
due to a measure of uncertainty about the extent of a
disability, where the parties know that there will be some
degree of disability, and job retraining will be required,
served neither the employee's or the employer's interest. AB
1636 was vetoed by the Governor over concerns that the
estimate might overstate the extent of disability, and result
in an overpayment by the employer.
SB 1103 (Cedillo) from last Session also proposed reforms to the
supplemental job displacement benefit program. The bill
reflected the reforms that a labor/employer/
administration working group had developed. Unfortunately, the
working group process did not result in complete consensus,
even though there was support for the proposal from a number
of employers. Because the proposal was amended into SB 1103
late in the Session, it did not obtain a referral from the
Assembly Rules Committee.
3)Pending legislation . SB 3 (Cedillo) is pending in the Senate,
and it proposes the following for injuries occurring on or
after January 1, 2010:
a) provides that the triggering event for initiation of the
supplemental job displacement benefit process is the
receipt by the employer of an admissible report from a
physician indicating that there will be permanent
disability,
b) specifies that the voucher amount is $6000 for all
cases,
c) expands and details the purposes for which the voucher
may be used,
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d) provides that the voucher expires two years after it is
issued, or five years after the date of injury, whichever
is later, and
e) provides that an agreement to settle or release this
benefit is valid only if approved by a workers'
compensation judge.
4)Support . CSAC Excess Insurance Authority, a joint powers
authority that provides excess workers' compensation coverage
for public entities, writes in support that it has experienced
numerous problems with the supplemental job displacement
voucher program, and that this bill is a big step in
addressing those problems.
5)Opposition . The California Nurses Association and the
California Applicants' Attorneys Association oppose the bill
because its provision delaying the time when job retraining
commences is contrary to the agreed upon purposes of returning
injured workers to productive jobs as quickly as possible.
The opposition also notes that SB 3 (Cedillo) is a more
comprehensive solution to the problem.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority
Opposition
California Applicants' Attorneys Association
California Nurses Association
California School Employees Association (CSEA), AFL-CIO
Analysis Prepared by : Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086