BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
Mark DeSaulnier, Chair
Date of Hearing: June 23, 2010 2009-2010 Regular
Session
Consultant: Gideon L. Baum Fiscal:Yes
Urgency: No
Bill No: AB 2253
Author: Coto
Version: As Amended May 28, 2010
SUBJECT
Workers' compensation: cancer presumption.
KEY ISSUE
Should the Legislature lengthen the maximum statute of
limitations for a workers' compensation cancer presumption for
peace officers and firefighters from 5 years to 10 years?
PURPOSE
To increase the availability of cancer treatments within the
workers' compensation system for firefighters and peace
officers.
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
a) Establishes a workers' compensation system that provides
benefits to an employee injured at work, irrespective of
fault. This system requires all employers to secure
payment of benefits by either securing the consent of the
Department of Industrial Relations to self insure or by
securing insurance against liability from an insurance
company duly authorized by the state.
b) Provides that, for firefighters and peace officers,
cancer is presumed to have arisen during the course of
employment.
c) Requires the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB)
to find that the cancer is employment-related unless the
employer proves that the cancer is not related to
employment.
d) Specifies that for the presumption to apply, the safety
officer must be in service at the time the cancer manifests
itself, or, if the employee has separated from the
employer, the statute of limitations has not expired. The
statute of limitations is different for each employee,
based on a formula that grants three months for each year
of service to that employer, with the period commencing on
the last date actually worked.
e) Provides that, regardless of the time period for the
statute of limitations calculated using the three months
per year of service formula, in no case shall the statute
of limitations be more than five years from the date last
worked by the employee for that employer.
f) Provides that the compensation that is awarded for
cancer treatment includes full hospital, surgical, medical
treatment, disability indemnity, and death benefits, as
provided by the Division of Workers Compensation (DWC).
This Bill extends the five-year cap that modifies the three
months for one year of service formula to a ten-year cap.
This bill also specifies that the provision of law establishing
the cancer presumption may be cited as the William Dallas Jones
Cancer Presumption Act of 2009.
COMMENTS
1. Need for this bill?
According to the author and sponsors of the bill, the original
purpose of the workers' compensation cancer presumption for
public safety workers and firefighters, which was enacted over
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
20 years ago, was to recognize that it was probable that many
cancers that afflicted safety officers were job-related, but
due to the passage of time during the latency period, it was
difficult to prove that relation to the job. Subsequent
research in the cancer arena suggests that carcinogens can
impact the body well beyond their initial impact and well
beyond the five-year window in current law.
According to the National Cancer Institute, "Carcinogens act
through a multistep process that initiates a series of genetic
alterations ("mutations") and stimulates cells to proliferate.
A prolonged period of time is usually required for these
multiple steps. There can be a delay of several decades
between exposure to a carcinogen and the onset of cancer. For
example, young people exposed to carcinogens from smoking
cigarettes generally do not develop cancer for 20 to 30
years."
Several studies have suggested that firefighters have a higher
incidence of certain cancers. A May 2007 Study from the
School of Public Health at UC Berkeley found an increased
incidence of testicular cancer (odds ratio = 1.54, 95%
confidence interval: 1.18-2.02), melanoma (1.50, 1.33-1.70),
brain cancer (1.35, 1.06-1.72), esophageal cancer (1.48,
1.14-1.91), and prostate cancer (1.22, 1.12-1.33). While a
2008 RAND study disputed that there was a higher incidence of
cancer among firefighters, other studies done in
Massachusetts, Florida, and Seattle and Tacoma, Washington
found similar results to the UC Berkeley study.
2. Who was William "Dallas" Jones?
William "Dallas" Jones was a dedicated firefighter in Los
Angeles County for nearly 35 years. The passion and
professionalism with which he conducted his duties as
President for Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014 and
later as Secretary/Treasurer for California Professional
Firefighters made him highly qualified to lead the state
Office of Emergency Services as Director from 1999-2004.
During his time at OES, Dallas responded to and was on the
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ground during a myriad of emergencies, including the
devastating fire storms in 2003 that engulfed Southern
California. After leaving that post, he continued his work by
returning as Secretary-Treasurer for the California
Professional Firefighters, even after he was diagnosed with
cancer in 2007. He ultimately succumbed to cancer in 2008.
This bill is named after him as a memorial to his life and his
service.
3. Proponent Arguments :
According to the author, in the course of performing their
job-related duties, firefighters and other public safety
personnel routinely come into contact with materials known to
cause various types of cancer. Since the original cancer
presumption statute was enacted over two decades ago, research
and anecdotal information reveal that some industrially-caused
cancers actually manifest themselves well-beyond the existing
60-month statute of limitations given the complex synergistic
effects of multiple compound exposures, as well as the rapidly
growing introduction of new chemicals and industrial compounds
into our environment. Consequently, there is a critical need
to strike the cap in current law.
Proponents note that recent scientific developments have shown
that the original statute of limitations provision is contrary
to the purposes of the presumption. Several of the cancers
most closely associated with the firefighters and their
profession have a latency period longer than 60 months.
Proponents cite a review of The Risk of Cancer in Firefighters
by Anne L Golden, PhD, Steven B Markowitz, PhD, and Philip J
Landrigan, MD, MSc, as published in 1995 in the Occupational
Medicine: State of the Art Reviews, which found that the
latency period for most of the relevant cancers associated
with exposure to chemical carcinogens is likely to be at least
three or four decades.
4. Opponent Arguments :
Opponents of the measure, which includes several public
entities and associations of public entities, cite a 2004 WCAB
ruling that held that the public employer must, in order to
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rebut the cancer presumption, "explicitly demonstrate that
medical or scientific research has shown that there is no
reasonable inference that exposure to known carcinogen or
carcinogens is related to [the cancer] or causes the
development of the cancer." They conclude that this standard
makes it virtually impossible to rebut the presumption, and
that therefore the bill makes any cancer any safety officer
ever contracts compensable through the workers' compensation
system.
The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) is
also in opposition to AB 2253. DIR believes that AB 2253
would be a vast expansion of the cancer presumption for fire
fighters and peace officers, increasing the number of
non-industrial cancer cases found to be compensable workers'
compensation illnesses. DIR believes that this expansion will
increase costs to the state and local agencies that employ
firefighters and peace officers, creating an unduly long
period of unknown liability for those agencies.
5. Prior Legislation :
AB 128 (Coto) of 2009 would have increased the statute of
limitations formula to run for each year served, and would
have also removed the cap of time accrued under that formula.
AB 128 was held under submission by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Professional Firefighters - Sponsor
California Association of Highway Patrolmen - Co-sponsor
CDF Firefighters Local 2881 - Co-Sponsor
Peace Officers Research Association of California - Co-sponsor
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
California Applicants' Attorneys Association
California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing
Committee
International Association of Fire Fighters
National Peace Officers and Firefighters Benefit Association
Orange County Professional firefighters' Association
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
OPPOSITION
Acclamation Insurance Management Services (AIMS)
Allied Managed Care (AMC)
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities
California Chamber of Commerce
California Coalition on Workers' Compensation
California Highway Patrol
California Special Districts Association
California State Association of Counties
City of San Marcos
City of Santa Rosa
City of Vista
County of Orange Board of Supervisors
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority (a California Joint Powers
Authority)
Department of Industrial Relations
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
League of California Cities
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Regional Council of Rural Counties
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations