Throughout the 2020 Legislative Session, RCRC and a large coalition of stakeholders expressed strong concerns with efforts to provide enhanced workers’ compensation benefits to persons who are not classified as public safety personnel in light of COVID-19. A number of legislative measures were put forth to provide a worker with a rebuttable presumption when claiming a COVID-19 illness. As such, Senate Bill 1159, authored by Senator Jerry Hill (D- San Mateo), was put forth as the primary legislative measure to make changes to the workers’ compensation system, including a rebuttable presumption. Initially, RCRC joined a coalition to raise concerns about the costs of the enhanced benefit and the functionality of the outbreak-based presumption trigger contained in SB 1159.
The coalition requested changes to address these specific concerns with SB 1159. The amendments offered by the coalition attempted to address the significant administrative burden for employers while leaving the fundamental policy direction of the bill intact. Even though these amendments were not incorporated, SB 1159 easily secured passage in the Legislature. And, on Thursday, SB 1159 was signed into law by Governor Newsom.