BILL ANALYSIS
AB 948
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 6, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Jose Solorio, 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 factors that determine
the extent of that benefit may not be known. Specifically, the
AB 948
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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.
3)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.
4)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,
d) provides that the voucher expires two years after it is
issued, or five years after the date of injury, whichever is
later, and
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e) provides that an agreement to settle or release this benefit
is valid only if approved by a workers' compensation judge.
5)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.
6)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, and would result in the injured employee obtaining job
training sooner than under AB 948's proposed solution.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority
Opposition
California Applicants' Attorneys Association (CAAA)
California Labor Federation
California Nurses Association
California School Employees Association (CSEA), AFL-CIO
Analysis Prepared by : Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086