BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1234 (Block) - Workers Compensation
Amended: March 24, 2014 Policy Vote: L&IR 4-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: April 7, 2014
Consultant: Robert Ingenito
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1234 would broaden eligibility for certain
workers' compensation benefits to specified peace officers
including, but not limited to park rangers, housing authority
patrol officers, and various school and transit police.
Fiscal Impact: There would be an increase in workers'
compensation costs for state employees who are employed in
classifications/entities affected by the bill, particularly in
the areas of K-12 education and the community colleges. The
amount of the increase is unknown, but likely to exceed $50,000
General Fund annually (see Staff Comments).
Background: Current 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. Generally speaking, under
current law an injured worker who is unable to work is entitled
to two years of temporary disability benefits. These benefits
are designed to partially offset the loss of wages for workers
unable to work in the aftermath of an injury. The benefit amount
is 67 percent of a worker's average weekly wage during the past
12 months.
Labor Code 4850 provides specified categories of peace officers
with a higher wage loss benefit. An eligible public safety
officer who becomes disabled while performing his or her duties
is entitled to a one-year leave of absence without loss of
salary in lieu of temporary disability payments. These employees
include:
City police officers.
City, county, or district firefighters.
SB 1234 (Block)
Page 1
Sheriffs.
Inspectors, investigators, detectives, or personnel with
comparable titles in any district attorney's office.
County probation officers, group counselors, or juvenile
services officers.
Lifeguards employed by a county of the first class or
the City of San Diego.
Airport law enforcement officers.
Harbor or port police officers, wardens, or special
officers of a harbor or port district or city or county
harbor department.
Police officers of the Los Angeles Unified School
District.
Proposed Law: This bill would extend the 4850 leave of absence
to include the following, but not limited to peace officers
listed in specified sections of the Penal Code:
Park rangers designated by a local agency or municipal
water district.
Housing authority patrol officers employed by the
housing authority of a city, district, county, or city and
county or employed by the policy department of a city or
county.
Various school safety officers including members of a
California Community College police department, police
department of a school district or any peace officer
employed by a K-12 public school district or California
Community College district who has completed specified
training.
Various transit peace officers including members of the
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District Police
Department, transit police officers or peace officers of a
county, city, transit development board, or district, or
any railroad police officer commissioned by the Governor.
Persons designated as a security officer by a municipal
utility district or county water district.
A welfare fraud or child support investigator or
inspector, regularly employed and paid in that capacity by
a county.
The coroner and deputy coroners regularly employed and
paid in that capacity of a county.
SB 1234 (Block)
Page 2
Related Legislation: SB 527 (Block), Chapter 66, Statutes of
2013 added full-time lifeguards employed by the City of San
Diego to the list of public safety officers eligible for 4850
leave.
Staff Comments: The Office of the Legislative Counsel has keyed
this bill "non-fiscal." However, the purview of this Committee,
pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5, is to review and analyze bills that
would, among other things, result in a substantial expenditure
of state money. Thus, even though SB 1234 was keyed
"non-fiscal," the Committee requested referral to examine the
extent to which it might potentially increase state costs.
Under current Appropriations Committee rules, bills are referred
to its suspense file if they increase costs for any state fund,
in any fiscal year, by specified thresholds. Those thresholds
are $50,000 for the General Fund, and $150,000 for most other
state funds.
Current data indicate that roughly 700 peace officers work for
school districts and community colleges districts. To the extent
that these peace officers were to utilize the expanded benefits
under this bill, upfront costs to these districts would
increase, creating a new cost pressure on their existing and
future budget allocations (primarily General Fund). The extent
of the increase is unknown, but is likely to exceed $50,000
annually.