California 2021-2022 Regular Session Status: Enacted

AB 845 — Disability retirement: COVID-19: presumption.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 122, Statutes of 2021.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 17, 2021. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 70% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 7 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Existing law, until 2023, defines "injury" for purposes of workers' compensation insurance to include illness or death resulting from the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) under specified circumstances, and creates a disputable presumption, as specified, that the injury arose out of the course of employment and is compensable. This presumption is applicable to specified public safety, firefighter, and medical occupation, among others, as specified. Existing law prescribes various requirements for the organization and administration of public retirement systems, which typically provide pension, disability, and death benefits to their members. These systems are governed by their boards of administration, to which the California Constitution grants the sole and exclusive responsibility to administer the system in a manner that will ensure prompt delivery of benefits and related services. Existing law provides that participants in certain membership categories may be entitled to special benefits if death or disability arises in the course of employment. The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) generally requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify its plan or plans to comply with that act and establishes, among other things, limits on defined benefit formulas and caps on pensionable compensation. This bill, until January 1, 2023, would create a presumption, applicable to the retirement systems that PEPRA regulates and to specified members in those systems, that would be applied to disability retirements on the basis, in whole or in part, of a COVID-19-related illness. In this circumstance, the bill would require that it be presumed the disability arose out of, or in the course of, the member's employment. The bill would authorize the presumption to be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, but unless controverted, the applicable governing board of a public retirement system would be required to find in accordance with the presumption. The bill would apply this presumption to members employed in specified firefighter, public safety officer, and health care job classifications, or their functional equivalents, and to members in other job classifications who test positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak of the disease at their places of employment, as defined.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 122, Statutes of 2021.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.

  4. In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling.

  5. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1905.).

  6. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  7. From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.

  8. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  9. Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

  10. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  11. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 1330.)

  12. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  13. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 28).

  14. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  15. Re-referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  16. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P.E. & R. Read second time and amended.

  17. Referred to Com. on P.E. & R.

  18. From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.

  19. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

  • Rodriguez · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on · 1 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • Rodriguez

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

Passed 15 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Republican 2000
Unaffiliated 10000
Democratic 3000
Total 15000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (15)
Member Party Vote
McCarty — Yea
Wood — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Boerner Horvath — Yea
Vince Fong — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Health]

Passed 8 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 6000
Republican 2000
Total 8000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (8)
Member Party Vote
Alvarez, David Democratic Yea
Bains, Jasmeet Democratic Yea
Haney, Matt Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Yea
Ta, Tri Republican Yea

Official roll call →

3rd Reading AB845 Rodriguez By Cortese

Passed 39 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 12001
Unaffiliated 23000
Republican 4000
Total 39001
% of votes cast 98%0%0%3%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Leyva — Yea
Min — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Bates — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Borgeas — Yea
Roth — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Newman — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Melendez — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Pan — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Allen, Benjamin Democratic Yea
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Becker, Josh Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Cortese, Dave Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Not Voting
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea
Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie Republican Yea

Official roll call →

AB 845 Rodriguez Assembly Third Reading

Passed 74 Yea · 0 Nay · 4 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 26001
Unaffiliated 39002
Republican 9001
Total 74004
% of votes cast 95%0%0%5%
How each member voted (78)
Member Party Vote
Bloom — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Voepel — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Burke — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Chau — Yea
Kiley — Not Voting
Mullin — Not Voting
Mathis — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Holden — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Salas — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Wood — Yea
Ting — Yea
Low — Yea
Frazier — Yea
Levine — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Daly — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Medina — Yea
Gray — Yea
Smith — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Not Voting
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea
Choi, Steven S. Republican Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Not Voting
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Yea
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Yea
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 14 Yea · 0 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 8000
Democratic 5001
Republican 1001
Total 14002
% of votes cast 88%0%0%13%
How each member voted (16)
Member Party Vote
Levine — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chau — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Not Voting
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Not Voting
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

public-safety labor health-insurance
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does AB 845 do?
Existing law, until 2023, defines "injury" for purposes of workers' compensation insurance to include illness or death resulting from the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) under specified circumstances, and creates a disputable presumption, as specified, that the injury arose out of the course of employment and is compensable. This presumption is applicable to specified public safety, firefighter, and medical occupation, among others, as specified. Existing law prescribes various requirements for the organization and administration of public retirement systems, which typically provide pension, disability, and death benefits to their members. These systems are governed by their boards of administration, to which the California Constitution grants the sole and exclusive responsibility to administer the system in a manner that will ensure prompt delivery of benefits and related services. Existing law provides that participants in certain membership categories may be entitled to special benefits if death or disability arises in the course of employment. The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) generally requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify its plan or plans to comply with that act and establishes, among other things, limits on defined benefit formulas and caps on pensionable compensation. This bill, until January 1, 2023, would create a presumption, applicable to the retirement systems that PEPRA regulates and to specified members in those systems, that would be applied to disability retirements on the basis, in whole or in part, of a COVID-19-related illness. In this circumstance, the bill would require that it be presumed the disability arose out of, or in the course of, the member's employment. The bill would authorize the presumption to be rebutted by evidence to the contrary, but unless controverted, the applicable governing board of a public retirement system would be required to find in accordance with the presumption. The bill would apply this presumption to members employed in specified firefighter, public safety officer, and health care job classifications, or their functional equivalents, and to members in other job classifications who test positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak of the disease at their places of employment, as defined.
Who sponsors AB 845?
AB 845 is sponsored by Rodriguez.
What is the current status of AB 845?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 17, 2021. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 845?
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