Bill Text: CA SB284 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Workers’ compensation: firefighters and peace officers: post-traumatic stress.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2022-09-29 - In Senate. Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [SB284 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SB284-Enrolled.html
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Enrolled
September 01, 2022 |
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Passed
IN
Senate
August 29, 2022 |
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Passed
IN
Assembly
August 22, 2022 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
August 18, 2022 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
August 30, 2021 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
June 28, 2021 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
March 16, 2021 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 284
| Introduced by Senator Stern (Coauthor: Assembly Member Gipson) |
February 01, 2021 |
An act to amend Section 3212.15 of the Labor Code, relating to workers’ compensation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 284, Stern.
Workers’ compensation: firefighters and peace officers: post-traumatic stress.
Existing law establishes a workers’ compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law provides, only until January 1, 2025, that, for certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term “injury” includes post-traumatic stress that develops or manifests during a period in which the injured person is in the service of the department or unit, but applies only to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2020. Existing law requires the compensation awarded pursuant to this provision to include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability indemnity, and death benefits.
This bill would make that provision applicable to active firefighting members of the State Department
of State Hospitals, the State Department of Developmental Services, the Military Department, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and to additional peace officers, including security officers of the Department of Justice when performing assigned duties as security officers and the officers of a state hospital under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals or the State Department of Developmental Services, among other officers. The bill would also make that provision applicable to public safety dispatchers, public safety telecommunicators, and emergency response communication employees, as defined. The bill would only apply prospectively to individuals, as specified, to injuries occurring on or after January 1,
2023.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 3212.15 of the Labor Code is amended to read:3212.15.
(a) This section applies to all of the following:(1) Active firefighting members, whether volunteers, partly paid, or fully paid, of all of the following fire departments:
(A) A fire department of a city, county, city and county, district, or other public or municipal corporation or political subdivision.
(B) A fire department of the University of California and the California State University.
(C) The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
(D) A
county forestry or firefighting department or unit.
(E) The State Department of State Hospitals.
(F) The State Department of Developmental Services.
(G) The Military Department.
(H) The Department of Veterans Affairs.
(2) Active firefighting members of a fire department that serves a United States Department of Defense installation and who are certified by the Department of Defense as meeting its standards for firefighters.
(3) Active firefighting members of a fire department that serves a National Aeronautics and Space Administration installation
and who adhere to training standards established in accordance with Article 4 (commencing with Section 13155) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 12 of the Health and Safety Code.
(4) Peace officers, as defined in Sections 830.1, 830.2, 830.3, 830.32, 830.37, and 830.38, subdivision (b) of Section 830.4, and Sections 830.5 and 830.55 of the Penal Code, who are primarily engaged in active law enforcement activities.
(5) (A) Fire and rescue services coordinators who work for the Office of Emergency Services.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, “fire and rescue services coordinators” means coordinators with any of the following job classifications: coordinator, senior coordinator, or chief coordinator.
(6) (A) Public safety dispatchers, public safety telecommunicators, and emergency response communication employees.
(B) For the purposes of this paragraph, a “public safety dispatcher,” “public safety telecommunicator,” or “emergency response communication employee” means an individual employed by a public safety agency whose primary responsibility is to receive, process, transmit, or dispatch emergency and
nonemergency calls for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and other public safety services by telephone, radio, or other communication device, and includes an individual who supervises other individuals who perform these functions.
(b) In the case of a person described in subdivision (a), the term “injury,” as used in this division, includes post-traumatic stress injury. Post-traumatic stress injury shall be deemed to include “post-traumatic stress disorder,” as diagnosed according to the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association and that develops or manifests during a period in which any person described in subdivision (a) is in the service of the department, unit, office, or agency.
(c) For an injury that is diagnosed as specified in subdivision (b):
(1) The compensation that is awarded shall include full hospital, surgical, medical treatment, disability indemnity, and death benefits, as provided by this division.
(2) The injury developing or manifesting in these cases shall be presumed to arise out of and in the course of the employment. This presumption is disputable and may be controverted by other evidence, but unless so controverted, the appeals board is bound to find in accordance with the presumption. This presumption shall be extended to a person described in subdivision (a) following termination of service for a period of 3 calendar months for each full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance,
commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity.
(d) Compensation shall not be paid pursuant to this section for a claim of injury unless the person described in subdivision (a) has performed services for the department, unit, office, or agency for at least six months. The six months of employment need not be continuous. This subdivision does not apply if the injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition.
(e) (1) This section, as added by Section 2 of Chapter 390 of the Statutes of 2019, applies to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2020.
(2) The amendments to this section made by Senate Bill No. 284 of the 2021–22 Regular Session (SB 284), shall not
apply retroactively to injuries occurring before January 1, 2023.
(3) For individuals newly covered by this section by the amendments made to this section by SB 284, this section shall only apply to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2023.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2025, and as of that date is repealed.
