BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 454|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 454
Author: Dickinson (D)
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/26/13
AYES: Monning, Wyland, Leno, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-23, 5/28/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Workers compensation benefits: prevailing wages
SOURCE : California Applicants Attorneys Association
DIGEST : This bill requires that when temporary disability
benefits or permanent disability benefits are determined for
average weekly earnings on a public works project will be taken
at the wages actually paid or the prevailing wage that was
applicable to the work performed by the employee, whichever
amount is greater. Provides that a Workers' Compensation
Appeals Board (WCAB) determination of whether a project was a
public work or, of the applicable prevailing wage, or both, has
no effect in any other judicial or administrative proceeding.
ANALYSIS :
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Existing law:
1.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 insurance against liability from an insurance company
duly authorized by the state.
2.Provides for the payment of indemnity benefits if the
occupational injury causes temporary or permanent disability
which prevents the worker from returning to his or her job.
In the case of temporary disability payments, the benefit is
two-thirds of the weekly loss in wages due to disability for
up to 104 weeks.
3.Requires the minimum and maximum average weekly earnings for
temporary disability benefits annually by an amount equal to
the percentage increase in the state average weekly wage as
compared to the prior year.
4.Defines "public works" to include, among other jobs,
construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair
work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out
of public funds.
5.Requires all employees who work on public works projects
costing $1,000 or more to be paid the general prevailing rate
of per diem wages and the general prevailing rate for holiday
and overtime work for the specific location where the public
work is to be performed.
6.States that if the Labor Commissioner or his or her designee
determines after an investigation that there has been a public
works violation, the Labor Commissioner shall with reasonable
promptness issue a civil wage and penalty assessment to the
contractor or subcontractor or both. The assessment shall be
in writing and shall describe the nature of the violation and
the amount of wages, penalties, and forfeitures due.
This bill:
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1.Requires that when temporary disability benefits or permanent
disability benefits are determined for average weekly earnings
on a public works project will be taken at the wages actually
paid or the prevailing wage that was applicable to the work
performed by the employee, whichever amount is greater.
2.Provides that a WCAB determination of whether a project was a
public work or, of the applicable prevailing wage, or both,
has no effect in any other judicial or administrative
proceeding.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Department
of Industrial Relations indicates that it would incur costs of
$125,000 (special funds) to implement the provisions of the
bill.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13)
California Applicants' Attorneys Association (source)
California Chiropractic Association
California Professional Firefighters
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California,
AFL-CIO
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/3/13)
California Chambers
California Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California Applicants
Attorneys Association (CAAA), workers who are often the most
vulnerable - those with poor English language skills
particularly - can be taken advantage of by an unscrupulous
contractor. According to CAAA, its members have encountered
many cases where injured workers have been paid substantially
below the prevailing wage that the law required. While there is
a wage remedy in the Labor Code, CAAA asserts that there is not
a comparable remedy in the workers' compensation law that
ensures that benefits are paid at the level that the injured
worker was entitled to be paid. This bill is designed to cure
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this loophole.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents are concerned that this
bill requires either the claims administrator or the WCAB to be
the arbiter of prevailing wage disputes that impact temporary
disability rates. While opponents absolutely understand the
need to ensure that injured workers are paid the correct wages
and temporary disability benefits, the opponents have a great
deal of concern with any requirement that claims administrators
or WCAB judges make determinations about prevailing wage
contracts.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-23, 5/28/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong,
Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal,
Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones,
Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Nestande, Wilk, Vacancy
PQ:nl 9/4/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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