BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2451|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2451
Author: John A. Pérez (D), et al.
Amended: 4/19/12 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMM. : 5-0, 6/27/12
AYES: Lieu, DeSaulnier, Leno, Padilla, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-4, 5/10/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Workers compensation: firefighters
SOURCE : California Association of Highway Patrolmen
California Professional Firefighters
DIGEST : This bill provides that, in the case of the
death of a firefighter or peace officer due certain
occupational injuries, the period within which proceedings
may be commenced for the collection of workers'
compensation death benefits is one year from the date of
death.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes a workers'
compensation system that provides benefits to an employee
who suffers from an injury or illness that arises out of
and in the course of employment, 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
CONTINUED
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insurance against liability from an insurance company duly
authorized by the state.
Existing law creates a series of disputable presumptions of
an occupational injury for peace and safety officers for
the purposes of the workers' compensation system. These
presumptions include heart disease, hernias,
pneumonia, cancer, meningitis, tuberculosis,
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin
infections, and bloodborne infectious disease.
The compensation awarded for these injuries must include
full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability
indemnity, and death benefits, as provided by workers
compensation law. These presumptions tend to run for 5-10
years commencing on their last day of employment, depending
on the injury and the peace officer classification
involved. (Labor Code (LAB) Section 3212 to 3213.2)
Existing law provides that the presumptions listed above
are disputable and may be controverted by evidence.
However, unless controverted, the Workers' Compensation
Appeals Board must find is accordance with the presumption.
(LAB Section 3212 to 3213.2)
Existing law provides for the payment of a workers'
compensation indemnity death benefit. The amount of the
benefit is determined by the date of injury, the number
dependents, and if those dependents are partially dependent
or wholly dependent on the deceased worker. (LAB Section
4700 to 4709)
Existing law provides that no person is a dependent of any
deceased employee unless in good faith a member of the
family or household of the employee, or unless the person
bears to the employee the relation of husband or wife,
child, posthumous child, adopted child or stepchild,
grandchild, father or mother, father-in-law or
mother-in-law, grandfather or grandmother, brother or
sister, uncle or aunt, brother-in-law or sister-in-law,
nephew or niece. (LAB Section 3503)
Existing law requires, with certain exceptions, that the
collection of workers' compensation death benefits must be
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commenced one year from:
1. The date of death where death occurs within one year
from date of injury; or
2. The date of last furnishing of any benefits where death
occurs more than one year from the date of injury; or
3. The date of death, where death occurs more than one year
after the date of injury and compensation benefits have
been furnished.
No such proceedings may be commenced more than one year
after the date of death, nor more than 240 weeks from the
date of injury.
(LAB Section 5405)
The exceptions to the above timelines are as follows:
1. In the case of the death of an asbestos worker or
firefighter from asbestosis, the period within which
proceedings may be commenced for the collection of
workers' compensation death benefits is one year from
the date of death.
2. In the case of the death of a healthcare worker,
firefighter, peace officer, or correctional officer from
HIV-related disease, the period within which proceedings
may be commenced for the collection of workers'
compensation death benefits is one year from the date of
death, provided they meet certain requirements.
(LAB Section 5406.5 and 5406.6)
Existing law defines the "date of injury", as that date
during the employment on which occurred the alleged
incident or exposure, for the consequences of which
compensation is claimed. (LAB Section 5411)
This bill provides that, in the case of the death of a
firefighter or peace officer due certain occupational
injuries, the period within which proceedings may be
commenced for the collection of workers' compensation death
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benefits is one year from the date of death. Those
injuries are heart disease, hernias, pneumonia, cancer,
tuberculosis, MRSA skin infections, and bloodborne
infectious disease.
Comments
Presumptions and death benefits . Presumptions for peace
officers and firefighters have been a part of workers'
compensation law since 1917. While their scope has grown,
the fundamental idea behind each and every presumption
remains the same - these are injuries that are intuitively
likely to be job related, and therefore occupational
injuries compensable in the workers' compensation system,
but are difficult for the employee to prove. A good
example of this is the "heart trouble" presumption, which
was created in 1939 - while many individuals suffer from
heart ailments for a variety of different reasons, the jobs
we asked firefighters and peace officers to fulfill are
very stressful and take a toll on their heart. Therefore,
for these individuals, the Legislative granted a
presumption that a firefighter or peace officer's "heart
trouble" is occupational.
Even with these presumptions in place, however, limits on
the ability of any individual to collect workers'
compensation death benefits, which can generally be defined
as one year from the date of death if the injury was within
240 weeks of the initial injury, or about four and one-half
years, were in place for all workers until 1980. Even when
exceptions to the workers' compensation death benefit
timelines were approved by the Legislature in 1999 and
2003, they were quite limited - it was for asbestos workers
who died from asbestosis, which is a lung ailment that can
only come from long-term exposure to asbestos, is
universally recognized as an occupational cancer, and can
take 30 years to manifest itself.
Two other changes have been made to death benefit timelines
since then. In 1999, it was for healthcare worker,
firefighter, peace officer, or correctional officer from
HIV-related disease, but only when the injury was recognize
to be occupational prior to the injured worker's death.
Then, in 2003, firefighters were added to the asbestosis
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exception due to the significant and long-term occupational
exposure to asbestos due to its prominence as a building
material. Since then, the timelines have remained
unchanged.
AB 2451 and workers' compensation death benefits . As was
discussed above, this bill creates significant exceptions
from the existing restriction on workers' compensation
death benefits. The operation of this bill will vary
greatly from individual to individual, depending on the
circumstance of the occupational injury suffered by a
firefighter or peace officer. For example, if a
firefighter discovered that she or he had cancer three
years after retiring, that firefighter would be covered by
existing workers' compensation presumptions. However, if
that firefighter were unfortunately to succumb to cancer,
but did so after a fight that lasted five years, the
firefighter's estate would be unable to claim a death
benefit. This bill instead says that the firefighter's
estate could claim a death benefit up to one year after the
death of the firefighter.
However, this bill does not place any limits on the
operation of this exception to the workers' compensation
death benefit timelines. For example, if a firefighter
that had retired for 20 years were to suddenly suffer a
heart attack and die, his/her family would be able to file
for workers' compensation death benefits under this bill.
Unlike existing law, this exception would operate without
either a previous workers' compensation claim or a strong
circumstantial evidentiary claim to the death being tied to
an occupational injury, as is present in asbestosis.
Prior Legislation
AB 3051 (Nation and Vargas, 2004) would have exempted the
dependents of firefighters from the filing timelines for
workers' compensation benefits, but only if the death
resulted from a presumptive injury that manifested itself
within five years. The bill was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 7/3/12)
California Association of Highway Patrolmen (co-source)
California Professional Firefighters (co-source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs Association
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Fraternal Order of Police
California Labor Federation AFL-CIO
California Statewide Law Enforcement Association
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Peace Officers Research Association of California
Riverside Sheriffs Association
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association
Santa Ana Police Officers Association
Voters Injured at Work
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/14/12)
Barstow Community College
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities
California Coalition on Workers' Compensation
Community College League of California
County of Los Angeles
Los Rios Community College
Merced Community College District
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Proponents argue that existing law
is not meeting the needs of California's firefighters and
peace officers. Proponents note that if a firefighter or
peace officer dies of an occupational disease more than
five years after being diagnosed with the disease, his or
her family members are unable to claim a death benefit.
With occupational injuries such as cancer, the timeframe
between when the injury was discovered and when the worker
succumbs to the injury may be longer than five years. In
these cases, proponents argue that the families of
firefighters and peace officers should not be denied their
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right to workers' compensation death benefits due to their
families.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents argue that this bill
will dramatically increase costs on local governments and
counties at a time when budgets are limited and workers'
compensation costs are rising. Opponents argue that this
bill does not act like existing presumptions or exceptions
to the statute of limitations on workers' compensation
death benefits, as there are no limits on when such claims
could be filed. Opponents also note that this could have
significant impacts, as it will impact all firefighters and
peace officers currently employed, but also all currently
living retirees that are peace officers or firefighters.
Due to this, the County of Los Angeles alone places the
cost of complying with this bill at $20 million annually.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-4, 5/10/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Beth Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Jones, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen,
Pan, Perea, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Grove, Mansoor, Norby
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Furutani, Halderman, Jeffries,
Knight, Olsen, V. Manuel Pérez
PQ:m 8/15/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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