Recent Releases
CA Legislature Sends Plethora of W/C Rollback Bills to Governor
September 05, 2008
August 31st, 2008 was the last day for the Assembly and Senate to pass legislation that does not deal with the budget. Both houses met this requirement and heeding the Governor’s promise that he would VETO any bill that came to him before a budget; both the Senate and Assembly are waiting to send legislation to his desk.
The workers’ compensation bills waiting to be sent to the Governor for his signature and CCWC’s position include:
· AB 419 (Lieber-D) Request for VETO
This legislation would significantly increase costs for cities and counties by expanding the categories of employees who qualify for Labor Code Section 4850, one year of full salary temporary disability, in the event of a workplace injury.
· AB 507 (De La Torre-D) No Position
Would require the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to establish and maintain a website indicating the current workers’ compensation insurance coverage for California’s employers.
· AB 2081 (Coto-D) No Position
This legislation would Prohibit kickbacks from a utilization review company to a third party administrator (TPA) as an inducement for the TPA to refer a workers' compensation claim for utilization review, and clarifies the law that authorizes a private corporation that has all of its shareholders working for the company to exclude these officer/shareholders from workers' compensation coverage.
· AB 2181 (Ruskin-D) No Position
Would no longer require an employer to file certain workers’ compensation forms with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and instead require those forms be filed with the Division of Workers’ Compensation pursuant to still undetermined regulations.
· AB 2754 (Bass-D) Request for VETO
Expands the list of public safety workers’ compensation presumptive injuries to include MRSA infections and eliminates the five year employment requirement to file for disability retirement for any blood borne pathogen disability. This legislation prospectively will cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to local government
· AB 2969 (Lieber-D) Request for VETO
This legislation unnecessarily limits the field of medical professionals who can perform utilization review services to only those licensed in the State of California. This limitation could make UR services so limited and prohibitively expensive, ultimately rendering the option unusable.
· SB 1115 (Migden-D) Request for VETO
This legislation would create significant legal loopholes in apportionment determinations and would ultimately eliminate the ability for employers to apportion non-industrial disability in the event of a workplace injury. By eliminating any apportionment to a disability to which an injured worker is genetically predisposed or which may be indirectly linked to age, sex, or gender, you categorize a tremendous number of conditions which are no longer subject to apportionment, increasing indemnity costs exponentially.
· SB 1338 (Migden-D) Request for VETO
Would remove the expiration date on an employee’s ability to pre-designate a physician for the treatment of an industrial injury. This sunset was extended to 2010 in 2006 and that extension also required the Division of Workers’ Compensation to complete a study on pre-designation. This legislation would also remove the study requirement.
· SB 1717 (Perata-D) Request for VETO
Would arbitrarily and subjectively double Permanent Disability benefits over a three year period while also eliminating an employer’s ability to receive a 15% credit if they return the injured worker back to the job.
Stay tuned for copies of the letters that CCWC will be sending to the Governor on each of the bills listed above.