BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 996
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   June 20, 2012

            ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL 
                                      SECURITY
                              Warren T. Furutani, Chair
                 SB 996 (P.E.& R. Com.) - As Amended:  March 26, 2012

           SENATE VOTE  :   39-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: heart 
          trouble presumption.

           SUMMARY  :   Restates and clarifies existing County Employees' 
          Retirement Law of 1937 ('37 Act) regarding the rebuttable 
          presumption that heart trouble incurred by a safety member 
          arises from the safety members employment.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Provides, under the '37 Act, a system of industrial death and 
            disability benefits for safety officers and firefighters who 
            are injured, die, or develop an illness directly related to 
            the performance of their duties.

          2)Requires that when a safety member, firefighter, or member in 
            active law enforcement who has been employed for five or more 
            years develops heart trouble, the heart trouble will be 
            presumed to have arisen out of, and in the course of, the 
            member's employment, therefore making the illness industrial 
            and qualifying the member for related industrial benefits.

          3)Establishes industrial causation presumptions for cancer, 
            blood-borne infectious diseases, and illness due to exposure 
            to biochemical substances for safety officers, and states that 
            these presumptions may be rebutted by presenting evidence to 
            the contrary, but unless rebutted, the retirement board must 
            find that the illness was industrial.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown.  This bill is keyed fiscal by the 
          Legislative Counsel.

           COMMENTS  :   According to the sponsor, the appellate court ruled 
          in Pellerin v. Kern County Employees' Retirement Association 
          (2006) 145 Cal.App.4th 1099 that Government Code Section 31720.5 
          creates a rebuttable presumption that a heart condition incurred 








                                                                  SB 996
                                                                  Page  2

          by a safety employee arose out of the individual's employment.

          Following the Pellerin decision, there was some confusion among 
          '37 Act county retirement system attorneys regarding the ability 
          to rebut the heart presumption with other evidence.  The purpose 
          of this bill is to clarify existing law and make the statutory 
          language regarding the heart presumption consistent with other 
          presumptions within the '37 Act.







           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          State Association of County Retirement Systems (Sponsor)
          Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916) 
          319-3957