The California legislature continues to pass more liberal workers’ compensation provisions. And Governor Brown continues to use his veto power, at least over some of them. Two bills that would have increased benefits for public safety officers did not obtain his signature this week.

He returned Assembly Bill 2052 without his signature. This bill would have expanded the categories of peace officers that are eligible for worker’s compensation presumptions. The proposed law replaced the listing of the peace officers who qualify for the various presumptions with a citation to Penal Code Sections 830, et seq, a series of statutes that define all of the various classes of peace officers, thereby qualifying all peace officers to receive the benefit of the presumptions. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the extension of worker’s compensation presumptions beyond the six categories of peace officers specified in current law would result in substantial costs for state departments. The exact magnitude is unknown, but could total in the millions of dollars annually across all state departments employing peace officers.

Brown’s veto message said “Current workers’ compensation law provides coverage to certain categories of peace officers and firefighters for presumed compensable injuries. These presumptions, which include cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, hernia, bio-chemical illness, tuberculosis, and meningitis, were enacted in response to the types of hazards which these workers face. Over the course of many decades, California has expanded both the diseases and the kinds of safety employees which these presumptions cover. This measure seeks to expand coverage to dozens of additional categories of officers without real evidence that these officers confront the hazards that gave rise to the presumptions codified in existing law. Presumptions should be used rarely and only when justified by clear and convincing scientific evidence.”

Governor Brown also returned Assembly Bill 2378 without his signature..This bill provides that, with respect to certain fire and peace officer employees, the right to a leave of absence for up to one year with full pay as a result of on-the-job disability does not offset any portion of those employees’ right to up to 104 weeks of temporary disability benefits. Current case law, the Knittel decision, includes “4850” pay within the 104 week cap. According to the legislative analysis “The Court of Appeal issued a decision in 2013 that wrongly interprets existing law” and that “it is imperative that the Legislature act to abrogate the Court’s holding and restore the Legislature’s intent to provide benefits to these employees”.

Opponents argued that the Knittel decision accurately interprets the law, and therefore that this bill is a benefit increase for peace officers and firefighters. Opponents also argued that this bill is an expensive increase in workers’ compensation costs, with the City and County of San Francisco reporting that their costs alone will be an additional $1 million per year. Opponents also argued that additional disability benefits encourages longer periods of disability, leading to higher overtime costs and/or service reductions.

Governor Brown’s veto message said “The bill provides a benefit increase for a limited class of employees. The special considerations supporting salary continuation for public safety employees do not correspondingly support the expectation that these employees will need substantially more time than other injured workers to recover from their injuries.”