Assembly Appropriations held a bill in committee that would have created a registry system for temporary staffing agencies, including a requirement to prove they had valid workers’ comp coverage. Another bill to create a state registry for Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs) was watered down to instead only establish a weak statutory definition of PEOs and …
California legislators returned to Sacramento this week for the final weeks of the session with a hefty load of bills to work through. The measures of interest to the workers’ comp community include bills to enhance anti-fraud efforts, hold carriers accountable for correcting problems, and enact staffing industry reforms. Already off the table were controversial …
District attorneys and their representatives are supporting a bill that would apply the state’s general restitution statutes to all defendants who enter a diversion program to avoid a conviction on their record. Prosecutors note that there are 14 state-authorized diversion programs, but only 4 include a specific provision requiring defendants to pay restitution to victims. …
The Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement committee approved a bill addressing billing disputes over discounts in medical provider contracts after the author agreed to take the committee’s recommended amendments. It was the second time the committee approved the bill – AB 1048 by Assemblyman Phillip Chen (R-Brea) – which was back before the committee …
The Senate and Assembly appropriations committees last week completed the dirty work of culling hundreds of bills from the suspense file, including a medical leave bill that promised injured workers time off to seek care for an industrial injury. Other measures applying to the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund and a staffing agency licensing program …
California legislators are considering a pair of proposals to reform the troubled Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. The Newsom administration is pushing for a comprehensive package that tackles the backlog of 30,000 pending cases. And a bill from last year – that got vetoed – is back, authored by Assemblyman Liz Ortega (D-Hayward). Employers, carriers, …
A legislative proposal to create a licensing system for temporary staffing agencies is moving forward, despite opposition, in line with the author’s promise to work with parties to draft a workable definition of the staffing operations covered by the bill. SB 1032 by Sen. Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-San Bernardino) cleared the Senate Labor, Public Employment …
A bill to remove the sunset date from a pilot program allowing workers’ comp payers to provide indemnity benefits to injured workers via prepaid debit cards easily cleared the Assembly Insurance Committee. The committee carrying the bill voted unanimously to refer AB 1683 to the Appropriations Committee. The debit card program has been running since …