WCIRB summarizes the 2024 California workers’ compensation legislation

The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Review Office gives its opinion on bills passed and passed by the California Legislature this year.

The legislature was suspended for the year, and Gov. Gavin Newsom had until Sept. 30 to sign or veto any bills. WCIRB’s analysis includes legislation that passed and bills that were defeated.

The following bills were signed by Newsom and became law on January 1, 2025 (with the exception of Assembly Bill 171, which the governor signed into law on July 2, 2024):

Assembly Bill 171

The bill deems a request for reconsideration denied by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board unless the WCAB takes action within 60 days from the date the trial judge refers a case to the WCAB until July 1, 2026. requires the trial judge, when referring a case to the WCAB, to notify the parties to the case and the WCAB.

Assembly Bill 1239

The bill extends the authorization to deposit workers’ compensation payments into a prepaid card account through January 1, 2027.

Assembly Bill of 1870

Employers are required to post a notice in a conspicuous place that includes information about who to report injuries to, an employee’s rights to select and change an attending physician, and certain employee protections against discrimination. It also requires that the notice include information about an injured employee’s ability to consult a licensed attorney to advise them of their rights under workers’ compensation laws.

Assembly Bill 2337

The bill allows all documents that require a signature for workers’ compensation purposes to be filed with an electronic signature.

Senate Bill 1455

This bill extends the expiration date for the State Contractors Licensing Board from January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2029. SB 216, passed in 2022, required contractors with certain types of licenses to have workers’ compensation insurance, with unless they have no employees and submit an exemption certification to CSLB. This bill extends the deadline for applicants and licensees to comply with the SB 216 requirement from January 1, 2026 to January 2028. The bill also requires the CSLB to establish a process and procedure to verify whether applicants or licensees without an employee or employees are eligible for workers’ compensation relief.

Newsom vetoed the following bills:

Senate Bill 636

Existing law requires each employer to establish a process for evaluating the use of medical treatment. This bill would have required the physician performing the medical treatment utilization evaluation to be licensed under California state law.

Senate Bill 1299

The bill would have created a rebuttable presumption that a heat-related injury that develops within a specified time period after working outdoors for an agricultural industry employer that does not comply with heat illness prevention standards of arose and arose in the course of employment. The bill also would have required the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board to rule in favor of the employee if the employer does not rebut the presumption. The bill specified that compensation awarded for heat injuries to agricultural workers would include, among other things, medical treatment and disability.

TOPICS
California Law Workers’ Compensation