Plain English Breakdown
Section (4) of the official source is truncated, leaving uncertainty about whether this bill actually modifies subsequent injury benefits or only describes existing law.
Labor Budget Changes and Workers' Compensation Rules
This bill changes how a workers' compensation director is paid, adds over $3 billion to state pension funds for unpaid debts, requires employers to pay fees electronically with new penalties for late payments or non-compliance.
What This Bill Does
- Removes the Administrative Director of Workers' Compensation from the current salary structure set by existing law.
- Appropriates $3.018 billion from the General Fund to help pay unpaid debts in state pension plans for specific employee groups.
- Requires employers to pay workers' compensation assessments and surcharges using electronic funds transfer instead of other methods.
- Adds a 10% penalty if an employer pays these fees late, does not pay them at all, or fails to use the required electronic payment method.
- Directs that new penalties collected from employers be deposited into the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund.
Who It Names or Affects
- The Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation
- State employees who are members of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS)
- Employers in California required to pay workers' compensation assessments and surcharges
Terms To Know
- General Fund
- The main account where most state tax money is kept before being spent on government programs.
- Unfunded liabilities
- Money that a pension plan owes to retirees but has not yet collected or saved enough to pay for it.
- Electronic funds transfer
- A method of paying money directly from one bank account to another without using paper checks or cash.
Limits and Unknowns
- The official text provided ends abruptly in section (4), so the full details about changes to subsequent injury benefits are not available.
- The specific dates for when these new rules take effect are not listed in the source material.
- The exact calculation method for how much of the $3.018 billion goes to each pension category is described only as a maximum limit, not a fixed amount.