BILL NUMBER:  AB 1155
  VETOED	DATE: 10/07/2011




To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1155 without my signature.

This bill would state that workers' compensation injury
determinations shall not include consideration of race, religious
creed, color, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sex,
sexual orientation, or genetic characteristics.

The courts already recognize that apportioning a disability award to
any of these classifications is antithetical to our states'
non-discrimination policies.  The courts also recognize that
apportioning to an actual non-industrial condition that contributes
to causing a disability is permissible and required by the principle
that apportionment is based on causation.

This bill would not change existing law as interpreted by the courts
to date.  This bill would, however, generate new litigation over
questions of whether it is intended to change existing
interpretations.  At best, that additional litigation would add to
employers' costs for workers' compensation.  At worst, this bill
could disturb the appropriate interpretation of existing law that is
already taking shape in the courts.

Sincerely,



Edmund G. Brown Jr.