BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           2774 (Swanson)
          
          Hearing Date:  8/12/2010        Amended: 8/10/2010
          Consultant:  Bob Franzoia       Policy Vote: L&IR 4-1
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          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: AB 2774 would establish a rebuttable presumption  
          as to when an employer commits a serious violation and would  
          define physical harm, as specified.  This bill would also  
          establish new procedures and standards for the investigation and  
          the determination by the Division of Occupational Safety and  
          Health (division) in the Department of Industrial Relations of a  
          serious violation by an employer which causes harm or exposes an  
          employee to the risk of harm.
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          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2010-11      2011-12       2012-13     Fund
           Revision of procedures to         $300 to $600 annually; likely  
          an overall             Special*
          determine degree of    reduction in current appeals process 
          workplace injuries     costs in future years
                                                        
          * Occupational Safety and Health Fund
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          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense File.
          
          Existing law authorizes the division to issue a citation when an  
          employer causes an employee to suffer or potentially suffer,  
          among other things, serious injury or illness or serious  
          physical harm.

          This bill defines serious physical harm to mean any injury or  
          illness, specific or cumulative, occurring in the place of  
          employment or in connection with any employment, that results in  
          any of the following:

          (1) Inpatient hospitalization for purposes other than medical  
          observation.










          (2) The loss of any member of the body.
          (3) Any serious degree of permanent disfigurement.
           
          This bill would revise the current process to provide for a  
          staged process that would result in a review of the alleged  
          violation before that violation reaches the appeals process.   
          There would be initial costs to provide the "pre appeal"  
          process.  To the extent alleged violations are disposed of  
          earlier, there would be savings overall.