The California legislature passed a critical deadline requiring bills to advance out of their houses of origin by June 2nd or be held over until next year. Insiders say a greater percentage of bills cleared that hurdle this year compared to the historical norm. They say it has everything to do with the total control …
A handful of workers’ comp-related bills had already passed out of their houses of origin, but the majority faced a do-or-die deadline last week to clear the Assembly and Senate fiscal committees. The pending workers’ comp bills cleared the fiscal review, while some are advancing in amended form. Moving ahead of the deadline were two …
The Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee passed a bill by its chairman to require physicians performing utilization review functions to be licensed in California, but only if they are reviewing a medical treatment request for a private sector employee. Sen. Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley) is reviving an old idea to require state licensure …
At its hearing this morning, the Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement Committee is scheduled to review SB 631 by committee chair Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley). The bill currently calls for a study of gender equity issues in the workers’ compensation system, but it could ultimately be much more woke. The proposal follows years of …
With several workers’ comp bills on the agenda, the Assembly Insurance Committee will hold its first policy hearing of the session next week. Legislators are also getting busy amending bills already introduced, including one to expand public disclosure of contractors’ workers’ comp policies. Next week, three workers’ comp bills are on the Assembly Insurance Committee …
Bill introductions are complete for the first year of this two-year legislative cycle, and most workers’ compensation bills are again focused on workplace presumptions of compensability. Sprinkled among these bills are others to study gender issues, provider payments, or to require all utilization review physicians to be licensed here. Spot bills are also in the …
The California Legislature passed, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 1064 by Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) to require every applicant for a license from the Structural Pest Control Board and those seeking to renew a license to show proof of workers’ comp coverage or declare that they have no employees. The board sponsored …
Governor Gavin Newsom waited until the final hours before the September 30th deadline to take action on numerous bills of interest to the workers’ comp community. Ultimately, he signed several Covid-19-related measures while vetoing two bills seeking to expand existing presumptions for skin cancer and post-traumatic stress disorders. Newsom’s support for AB 1751 by Assemblyman …