Labor & Employment (Workers' Compensation)

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that specified injuries, such as cancer or post-traumatic stress disorder, developed or manifested in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law makes these provisions applicable to certain active firefighting members, including active firefighting members of a fire department that serves a United States Department of Defense installation or active firefighting members of a fire department that serves a National Aeronautics and Space Administration installation. This bill would, for injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2026, additionally apply these provisions to active firefighting members of a fire department that provides fire protection to a commercial airport, as specified. Existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that other injuries, including pneumonia, tuberculosis, or meningitis, developed or manifested in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law makes these provisions applicable to certain active firefighting members, including volunteers who are partly paid or fully paid by, among others, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or a county forestry or firefighting unit. The bill would, for injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2026, also apply these provisions to active firefighting members of a fire department that provides fire protection to a commercial airport, National Aeronautics and Space Administration installation, or United States Department of Defense installation.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires an employer to provide medical treatment that is reasonably required to cure or relieve an employee from the effects of the injury. Existing law allows employers to create networks of medical treatment providers to send employees to for treatment. Existing law sets out criteria for these networks and exceptions for when an employee may be treated outside of the network. This bill would require the administrative director to establish a statewide medical provider network database, consisting of physicians who are willing and able to treat injured employees in the San Joaquin Valley region. The bill would require an employee to first seek treatment within their employer's or insurer's network, unless the employer's or insurer's network is unable to treat the employee within 30 days of the request for medical treatment. The bill would require physicians, in order to be included in the network, to, among other things, be in good standing with the Medical Board of California and agree to comply with the official medical fee schedule, as specified. The bill would require the administrative director to implement the network on or before January 1, 2027. The bill would state the Legislature's intent to address the shortage of available medical treatment for workplace injuries in the central valley region. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare.

Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The existing Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires every employer to secure the payment of workers' compensation as provided by law and imposes civil and criminal penalties on employers that fail to secure the payment of workers' compensation. 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 authorize the administrative director or their agent to require an employer that is licensed or required to be licensed under MAUCRSA to provide proof that it has secured payment of workers' compensation to the administrative director or their agent. The bill would authorize the administrative director or their agent to establish a schedule for compliance that includes dates for when a licensee may be required to comply with these requirements. The bill would require the administrative director to provide assistance to any employer or entity that notifies the administrative director that it has been unable to obtain coverage and authorize the administrative director to extend the deadline for compliance, and would exempt any employer that secures the payment of workers' compensation pursuant to these provisions from civil or criminal liability for prior failure to secure the payment of compensation. The bill would authorize the administrative director to contract with one or more agents to assist employers in complying with these provisions, as specified.

Existing law requires the Attorney General to publish model policies limiting assistance with immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible consistent with federal and state law at public schools, public libraries, health facilities operated by the state or a political subdivision of the state, courthouses, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement facilities, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the Division of Workers Compensation, and shelters, and ensuring that they remain safe and accessible to all California residents, regardless of immigration status. Existing law requires the Attorney General to publish guidance, audit criteria, and training recommendations aimed at ensuring that any databases operated by state and local law enforcement agencies, including databases maintained for the agency by private vendors, are governed in a manner that limits the availability of information therein to the fullest extent practicable and consistent with federal and state law, to anyone or any entity for the purpose of immigration enforcement. Existing law, the California Values Act, prohibits California law enforcement agencies from using agency or department moneys or personnel to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes, including, among other things, providing personal information about an individual, making or intentionally participating in arrests based on civil immigration warrants, or performing the functions of an immigration officer, as specified. This bill would prohibit a state or local government agency from collecting immigration-related personally identifiable information unless it is explicitly required by law to do so and the collection is justified by a legitimate government purpose. The bill would prohibit a state or local government agency from sharing personally identifiable information with federal immigration enforcement agencies without a judicial warrant or court order. The bill would require any contract, agreement, or memorandum of understanding that facilitate data sharing between a state or local government agency and federal immigration enforcement authorities to comply with oversight mechanisms to ensure compliance with civil rights and privacy protections and be subject to review by the State Auditor, as described below. Because the bill would require local agencies to perform additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make these provisions enforceable by administrative action or by imposition of a civil penalty recovered by an action brought by the Attorney General. This bill would require the State Auditor to conduct audits of all state and local government agency data-sharing agreements at least every 2 years to ensure compliance with existing laws protecting privacy and civil rights. The bill would require the Office of the Attorney General to establish an oversight task force to review complaints and violations related to unauthorized data collection and sharing that would report to the Legislature annually on data privacy trends, risks, and policy recommendations. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes the California College Promise, under the administration of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to provide funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each community college meeting prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college to use that funding to waive some or all of the fees for 2 academic years for first-time community college students and returning community college students, as defined, who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent, or fewer for students certified as "full time" by a staff person in the disabled student services program, as specified, and who complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application, except as provided. This bill would instead require, for purposes of eligibility for the California College Promise, that students be enrolled in 9 or more, rather than 12 or more, semester units or the equivalent, or fewer for a student certified as eligible, based on a commitment by the student that is analogous to the 9-semester-unit or equivalent workload, by a staff person in the disabled student services program. The bill would additionally require, as a condition of receiving funding for the California College Promise, community colleges to provide a written notification to initial recipients of the California College Promise that includes specified information related to the 2 academic years of eligibility for the California College Promise.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, which generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of and in the course of their employment. Existing law entitles, among others, local law enforcement and probation officers and firefighters employed on a regular full-time basis to a leave of absence without loss of salary while disabled by injury or illness arising out of and in the course of their duties. Existing law provides that a leave of absence under those provisions is in lieu of temporary disability payments or maintenance allowance payments otherwise payable under the workers' compensation system. This bill would expand these provisions to entitle specified peace officers who are employed on a regular, full-time basis by a county of the eighth class, as defined, to this leave of absence.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to compensate employees for injuries sustained in the course of their employment. Existing law creates a disputable presumption that specified injuries sustained in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law authorizes the Department of Industrial Relations to expend moneys that have been appropriated for the administration and enforcement of laws under its jurisdiction, as well as for the maintenance of any commission or office of the department, as specified. Existing law establishes the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund within the State Treasury. Existing law requires the director to levy a surcharge upon employers in order to fund, among other things, the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, existing law authorizes funds to be expended for, among other things, the Return-to-Work Program and the enforcement of the insurance coverage program. Existing law establishes a Workers' Compensation Appeals Board and sets forth various proceedings that are required to be brought forth before the board. Existing law provides that the appeals board is vested with full power, authority, and jurisdiction to try and determine finally all the matters specified in those proceedings subject only to the review by the courts, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2031, create a disputable presumption that a heat-related injury that develops within a specified timeframe after working outdoors for an employer in the agriculture industry that fails to comply with heat illness prevention standards, as defined, arose out of and came in the course of employment. The bill would require the appeals board to find in favor of the employee if the employer fails to rebut the presumption. The bill would specify that compensation awarded for heat-related injury to farmworkers is to include, among other things, medical treatment and disability. The bill would prohibit a determination by the appeals board from having any effect in certain investigations and would prohibit that determination from being admissible in proceedings before the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board. The bill would establish the Farmworker Climate Change Heat Injury and Death Fund that would consist of a one-time transfer of $5,000,000 derived from nongeneral funds of the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund for the purpose of administrative costs associated with this presumption. The bill would make related findings and declarations.