Workers' compensation: benefits.

Existing law generally requires an employer to compensate, without regard to negligence, an employee for an injury sustained by the employee if the injury arose out of, and in the course of, employment, as specified. Existing law also establishes the Uninsured Employers Fund and the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, both continuously appropriated funds. In the event that an employer fails to pay compensation as required, then the employee may apply to be paid by the Director of Industrial Relations from the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. In the event that a permanently, partially disabled employee receives a later, compensable injury resulting in additional permanent disability, then that employee shall receive compensation from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. This bill would provide that a person shall not be excluded from receiving benefits under the Uninsured Employers Fund or the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund based on his or her citizenship or immigration status. The bill would provide that these provisions are declaratory of existing law. By increasing the number of applicants eligible for a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.