Workers' compensation.

Existing law requires every employer, except the state, to secure the payment of workers' compensation as provided by law. Existing law authorizes an employer, pursuant to this provision, to insure against liability in insurers duly authorized to write compensation insurance in the state or to secure from the Director of Industrial Relations a certificate of consent to self-insure. This bill would exempt agricultural employers, as defined, from the requirement to secure payment of workers' compensation and would create the Pilot Program for the Care of Agricultural Workers. This bill would create the Care of Agricultural Workers Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would require the Administrative Director of the Department of Industrial Relations to evaluate the amount spent by agricultural employers on workers' compensation and the amount spent on workers' compensation medical coverage. This bill would require that the amount that would otherwise have been spent by agricultural employers on workers' compensation medical coverage be placed in the Care of Agricultural Workers Fund. This bill would require that the fund be used to provide essential health benefits for agricultural workers. This bill would require agricultural employers to deposit additional moneys into the Care of Agricultural Workers Fund, as determined necessary by the administrative director to provide essential health benefits. This bill would require the administrative director to make a report to the Legislature after the 2nd year of the pilot program and at the completion of the pilot program.