Existing law provides that certain peace officers, firefighters, and other specified local public employees are entitled to a leave of absence without loss of salary while disabled by injury or illness arising out of and in the course of employment. The leave of absence is in lieu of temporary disability payments or maintenance allowance payments otherwise payable under the workers compensation system.

This bill would extend this leave of absence entitlement to lifeguards employed year round on a regular, full-time basis by the City of Oceanside.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for these employees of the City of Oceanside.

Existing law establishes a workers compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment, and provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that any use of the obsolete term workmens compensation be replaced in the law with the term workers compensation.

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to the above provision.

GOVERNOR'S VETO

GV Bill Id:AB 1451

Author:(Chávez)

As Enrolled Ver:July 15, 2015

2/3 vote

SUMMARY: Authorizes enhanced temporary disability benefits (known as "4850 time") for specified lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside. Specifically, this bill:

1. Adds lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside on a full-time, year-round basis to the class of public safety employees who receive special, enhanced temporary disability benefits when they are unable to work due to illness or injury that arose out of, or in the course of, employment.

2. Includes legislative findings that a special law is necessary within the meaning of California Constitution Article IV, Section 16.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Provides for a comprehensive system of benefits paid for by employers to employees who suffer illness or injury that arises out of, or in the course of, employment.

2. Includes temporary disability (TD) benefits for up to 104 weeks if an employee is temporarily unable to work during recuperation from the workplace illness or injury.

3. Establishes a minimum and a maximum amount that an employee may receive, which is adjusted annually to reflect rising wage levels. Currently the minimum benefit is $165 per week, and the maximum benefit is $1,103. The benefit is calculated based on two-thirds of an employee's average weekly wages, subject to the maximum cap.

4. Provides specified public safety officers with an enhanced temporary disability benefit for up to the first year of temporary disability. These safety officers receive their full salary (tax free) during the first year of temporary disability.

5. Includes lifeguards who are full time year round employees of the County of Los Angeles and the City of San Diego among the safety officers who are entitled to this special enhanced temporary disability benefit.

6. Provides that a special statute is invalid if a general statute could be made applicable.

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, undetermined increased workers' compensation costs to the City of Oceanside.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author, the bill is intended to correct an oversight that left out the City of Oceanside lifeguards when the City of San Diego lifeguards were added to the "4850" leave of absence law in 2013, when SB 527 (Block), Chapter 66, Statutes of 2013, was enacted. The author asserts that the Oceanside lifeguards "have the same responsibilities, training, and meet the mandates of the law to receive the benefit." The author asserts that both the employer and employee association agree (as was the case with the expansion for City of San Diego lifeguards) that this change is appropriate.

2. Collective bargaining? If a local public agency wants to grant employees certain benefits of employment, it is able to accomplish that goal without need for a statutory change. In fact, the City of Los Angeles has provided "4850-like" benefits to a range of employees without need of a statute mandating the benefit for those employees. If it is correct, as the author asserts, that both the city and its employees are in agreement, then the collective bargaining process, and not legislation, may be the better approach to enhancing the benefits of this class of employee.

3. Temporary disability benefits. The goal of TD is to approximate an employee's take home pay during the period after injury when the employee is temporarily unable to work. This goal is implemented by basing the weekly TD benefit on 2/3 of the employee's average weekly wages. Because there is a cap, employees who make more than approximately $1,600 per week do not reach this 2/3 goal, but because the benefit is tax free, most employees receive an adequate TD benefit while they are recovering.

4. Special public safety benefits. Public safety officers (police, sheriff, and firefighter employees generally) receive certain special workers' compensation benefits that other employees do not receive. Most notably, this class of employee has the benefit of a range of "presumptions" that certain illnesses or injuries are automatically deemed to be work related. All other employees are required to prove that their condition is work related. The second significant special workers' compensation benefit is granted by Labor Code Section 4850 – commonly referred to as "4850 time" – and this law grants defined employees up to one year of full salary in lieu of the regular method for calculating TD benefits. The author asserts that these lifeguards are sufficiently like other peace officers as to justify awarding them the special disability leave benefits.

5. Tax advantages. Because these benefits are paid due to disability, they are not subject to either state or federal taxes. This applies to regular TD benefits, and to 4850 benefits. Because of the tax-free status of this benefit, a public safety officer takes home substantially more in weekly benefits than they normally earn while working – i.e., normal take home pay plus what would have been paid in taxes. Public employers have long complained that this creates a disincentive in getting injured public safety officers to return to work, even if they are able, due to the financial loss they would suffer when they return. The extent of the return to work disincentive may be unclear with respect to these particular employees, but factually, they make more money while off duty than when they return.

6. Lifeguards. It appears that the year round, full-time lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County were included in the original legislation in 1983 that established Labor Code Section 4850. It is not clear why those employees were included, nor whether they perform substantially public safety and law enforcement duties, as is claimed by the City of San Diego or the City of Oceanside lifeguards. However, if the expansion of public safety officer benefits to other classes of employee is appropriate, the legislation should be clear that the employees must be public safety officers.

In addition, if there is a class of employee – lifeguards employed by various city, county, state park, or special district employers – it is not clear why a "special law" is an appropriate vehicle to provide this class of employees with safety officer special benefits. A general law, applicable to the whole class of employees, may be more appropriate if, in fact, these employees perform comparable peace officer duties as the broader class of peace officers who receive this benefit.

GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:

This bill adds full-time lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside to the list of employees who are entitled up to one year of leave, paid at full salary without payroll tax deductions, if they suffer an illness or injury that arises out of their job duties.

Recent data indicates public employers' costs related to this disability leave benefit have increased at an alarming rate. These cost figures give me pause to extend this benefit further in state law. If the City of Oceanside wishes to offer full salary in lieu of temporary disability for one year to their regular full-time lifeguards, they are free to do so by means of the collective bargaining process. Eligibility for this benefit is best left to the City of Oceanside, not the state, to determine.

Analysis Prepared by: Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086 FN: 0001356

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 1451

Author: Chávez (R)

Amended: 3/26/15 in Assembly

Vote: 21

SENATE LABOR & IND. REL. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/24/15

AYES: Mendoza, Stone, Jackson, Leno, Mitchell

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 65-7, 6/4/15 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Workers’ compensation: public employees

SOURCE: Oceanside Police Officers’ Association

DIGEST: This bill extends “4850 leave” to lifeguards employed on an annual, full-time basis by the City of Oceanside.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes a workers’ compensation system that provides benefits to an employee who suffers from an injury or illness that arises out of and in the course of employment, irrespective of fault. This system requires all employers to secure payment of benefits by either securing the consent of the Department of Industrial Relations to self-insure or by securing insurance against liability from an insurance company duly authorized by the state.

2. Provides for the payment of indemnity benefits if the occupational injury causes temporary or permanent disability which prevents the worker from returning to his or her job. In the case of temporary disability (TD) payments, the benefit is two-thirds of the weekly loss in wages due to disability for up to 104 weeks within five years (Labor Code §§4650, 4653, 4654 and 4656).

3. Provides that certain public employees employed on a regular, full-time basis regardless of their period of service, who incur on the job injury or illness, are entitled to receive disability payment for up to one year. These employees include:

1. City police officers;

2. City, county, or district firefighters;

3. Sheriffs;

4. Inspectors, investigators, detectives, or personnel with comparable titles in any district attorney's office;

5. County probation officers, group counselors, or juvenile services officers; and

6. Lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County or the City of San Diego.

This leave of absence is set forth in Labor Code Section 4850 and is sometimes referred to as “4850 leave”.

This bill allows lifeguards employed year-round by the City of Oceanside on a regular, full-time basis to be eligible for 4850 leave.

Background

As was discussed above, California’s workers’ compensation system provides a TD indemnity benefit for injured workers who are temporarily unable to return to work. TD benefits replace up to 66% of an injured workers’ pay for up to two years. However, for California’s peace officers, state law requires that 100% of the injured worker’s pay is provided in lieu of the first year of TD benefits. This is known as “4850 leave”, named after the Labor Code section which creates the leave.

SB 527 (Block, Chapter 66, Statutes of 2013) extends 4850 leave to the City of San Diego’s lifeguards. As was noted in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee analysis at the time, San Diego’s lifeguards perform many of the same duties as peace officers, including arrests and rescues, and they are a division of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department. Currently, San Diego’s lifeguards are the only municipal lifeguards who are eligible to receive 4850 leave.

AB 1451 extends 4850 leave to full-time lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside. The Oceanside Lifeguard Service operates seven days per week all year, with the times varying on the time of year. Oceanside employee six lifeguards on a full-time basis, with 60 lifeguards hired seasonally. In 2012, the Oceanside Lifeguard Service conducted 2,085 water rescues and 43 boat rescues.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 6/24/15)

Oceanside Police Officers’ Association (source)

City of Oceanside

OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/24/15)

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Proponents note that SB 527 (Block, 2013) allowed San Diego’s lifeguards to be eligible for 4850 leave, but did not extend this leave to other cities’ lifeguards. Proponents argue that the City of Oceanside’s lifeguards perform nearly the same function as San Diego’s lifeguards, yet are excluded from 4850 leave simply for working for a different city a few miles away. Proponents argue that this bill will correct this inequity and provide support to public safety personnel who put their lives on the line.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 65-7, 6/4/15

AYES: Alejo, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins

NOES: Travis Allen, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Kim, Patterson

NO VOTE RECORDED: Achadjian, Bigelow, Dahle, Frazier, Gordon, Harper, Melendez, Rodriguez

Prepared by: Gideon Baum / L. & I.R. / (916) 651-1556

6/29/15 15:53:59

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Senator Tony Mendoza, Chair

2015 - 2016 Regular

Bill No: AB 1451 Hearing Date: June 24, 2015

Subject: Workers’ compensation: public employees

KEY ISSUE

Should the Legislature extend “4850 leave” to lifeguards employed on an annual, full-time basis by the City of Oceanside?

ANALYSIS

Existing law establishes a workers’ compensation system that provides benefits to an employee who suffers from an injury or illness that arises out of and in the course of employment, irrespective of fault. This system requires all employers to secure payment of benefits by either securing the consent of the Department of Industrial Relations to self-insure or by securing insurance against liability from an insurance company duly authorized by the state.

Existing law provides for the payment of indemnity benefits if the occupational injury causes temporary or permanent disability which prevents the worker from returning to his or her job. In the case of temporary disability payments, the benefit is two-thirds of the weekly loss in wages due to disability for up to 104 weeks within 5 years (Labor Code §§4650, 4653, 4654 and 4656).

Existing law provides that certain public employees employed on a regular, full-time basis regardless of their period of service, who incur on the job injury or illness, are entitled to receive disability payment for up to one year. These employees include:

1. City police officers;

2. City, county, or district firefighters;

3. Sheriffs;

4. Inspectors, investigators, detectives, or personnel with comparable titles in any district attorney's office;

5. County probation officers, group counselors, or juvenile services officers; and

6. Lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County or the City of San Diego.

This leave of absence is set forth in Labor Code Section 4850 and is sometimes referred to as “4850 leave”.

This bill would allow lifeguards employed year-round by the City of Oceanside on a regular, full-time basis by the City of Oceanside to be eligible for 4850 leave.

COMMENTS

1. Need for this bill?

As was discussed above, California’s workers’ compensation system provides a temporary disability (TD) indemnity benefit for injured workers who are temporarily unable to return to work. TD benefits replace up to 66% of an injured workers’ pay for up to 2 years. However, for California’s peace officers, state law requires that 100% of the injured worker’s pay is provided in lieu of the first year of TD benefits. This is known as “4850 leave”, named after the Labor Code section which creates the leave.

SB 527 (Statutes of 2013, Chapter 66) extends 4850 leave to the City of San Diego’s lifeguards. As was noted in the committee analysis at the time, San Diego’s lifeguards perform many of the same duties as peace officers, including arrests and rescues, and they are a division of San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department. Currently, San Diego’s lifeguards are the only municipal lifeguards who are eligible to receive 4850 leave.

AB 1451 would extend 4850 leave to full-time lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside. The Oceanside Lifeguard Service operates 7 days per week all year, with the times varying on the time of year. Oceanside employee 6 lifeguards on a full time basis, with 60 lifeguards hired seasonally. In 2012, the Oceanside Lifeguard Service conducted 2,085 water rescues and 43 boat rescues.

2. Proponent Arguments:

Proponents note that SB 527 allowed San Diego’s lifeguards to be eligible for 4850 leave, but did not extend this leave to other cities’ lifeguards. Proponents argue that the City of Oceanside’s lifeguards perform nearly the same function as San Diego’s lifeguards, yet are excluded from 4850 leave simply for working for a different city a few miles away. Proponents argue that this bill will correct this inequity and provide support to public safety personnel who put their lives on the line.

3. Opponent Arguments:

None on file.

4. Prior Legislation:

SB 527 (Block), Statutes of 2013, Chapter 66, was discussed above.

SUPPORT

City of Oceanside

Oceanside Police Officers’ Association

OPPOSITION

None received.

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 1451

Author:(Chávez)

As Amended Ver:March 26, 2015

Majority vote

SUMMARY: Authorizes enhanced temporary disability benefits (known as "4850 time" for specified lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside. Specifically, this bill:

1. Adds lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside on a full-time, year-round basis to the class of public safety employees who receive special, enhanced temporary disability benefits when they are unable to work due to illness or injury that arose out of, or in the course of, employment.

2. Includes legislative findings that a special law is necessary within the meaning of California Constitution Article IV, Section 16.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Provides for a comprehensive system of benefits paid for by employers to employees who suffer illness or injury that arises out of, or in the course of, employment.

2. Includes temporary disability benefits (TD) for up to 104 weeks if an employee is temporarily unable to work during recuperation from the workplace illness or injury.

3. Establishes a minimum and a maximum amount that an employee may receive, which is adjusted annually to reflect rising wage levels. Currently the minimum benefit is $165 per week, and the maximum benefit is $1,103. The benefit is calculated based on two-thirds of an employee's average weekly wages, subject to the maximum cap.

4. Provides specified public safety officers with an enhanced temporary disability benefit for up to the first year of temporary disability. These safety officers receive their full salary (tax free) during the first year of temporary disability.

5. Includes lifeguards who are full time year round employees of the County of Los Angeles and the City of San Diego among the safety officers who are entitled to this special enhanced temporary disability benefit.

6. Provides that a special statute is invalid if a general statute could be made applicable.

FISCAL EFFECT: Undetermined increased workers' compensation costs to the City of Oceanside.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author, this bill is intended to correct an oversight that left out the City of Oceanside lifeguards when the City of San Diego lifeguards were added to the "4850" leave of absence law in 2013, when SB 527 (Block), Chapter 66, Statutes of 2013 – was enacted. The author asserts that the Oceanside lifeguards "have the same responsibilities, training, and meet the mandates of the law to receive the benefit". The author asserts that both the employer and employee association agree (as was the case with the expansion for City of San Diego lifeguards) that this change is appropriate.

2. Collective bargaining? If a local public agency wants to grant employees certain benefits of employment, it is able to accomplish that goal without need for a statutory change. In fact, the City of Los Angeles has provided "4850-like" benefits to a range of employees without need of a statute mandating the benefit for those employees. If it is correct, as the author asserts, that both the City and its employees are in agreement, then the collective bargaining process, and not legislation, may be the better approach to enhancing the benefits of this class of employee.

3. Temporary disability benefits. The goal of TD is to approximate an employee's take home pay during the period after injury when the employee is temporarily unable to work. This goal is implemented by basing the weekly TD benefit on two-thirds of the employee's average weekly wages. Because there is a cap, employees who make more than approximately $1,600 per week do not reach this two-thirds goal, but because the benefit is tax free, most employees receive an adequate TD benefit while they are recovering.

4. Special public safety benefits. Public safety officers (police, sheriff, and firefighter employees generally) receive certain special workers' compensation benefits that other employees do not receive. Most notably, this class of employee has the benefit of a range of "presumptions" that certain illnesses or injuries are automatically deemed to be work related. All other employees are required to prove that their condition is work related. The second significant special workers' compensation benefit is granted by Labor Code Section 4850 – commonly referred to as "4850 time" – and this law grants defined employees up to one year of full salary in lieu of the regular method for calculating TD benefits. The author asserts that these lifeguards are sufficiently like other peace officers as to justify awarding them the special disability leave benefits.

5. Tax advantages. Because these benefits are paid due to disability, they are not subject to either state or federal taxes. This applies to regular TD benefits, and to 4850 benefits. Because of the tax-free status of this benefit, a public safety officer takes home substantially more in weekly benefits than they normally earn while working – i.e., normal take home pay plus what would have been paid in taxes. Public employers have long complained that this creates a disincentive in getting injured public safety officers to return to work, even if they are able, due to the financial loss they would suffer when they return. The extent of the return to work disincentive may be unclear with respect to these particular employees, but factually, they make more money while off duty than when they return.

6. Lifeguards. It appears that the year round, full-time lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County were included in the original legislation in 1983 that established Labor Code Section 4850. It is not clear why those employees were included, nor whether they perform substantially public safety and law enforcement duties, as is claimed by the City of San Diego or the City of Oceanside lifeguards. However, if the expansion of public safety officer benefits to other classes of employee is appropriate, the legislation should be clear that the employees must be public safety officers.

In addition, if there is a class of employee – lifeguards employed by various city, county, state park, or special district employers -- it is not clear why a "special law" is an appropriate vehicle to provide this class of employees with safety officer special benefits. A general law, applicable to the whole class of employees, may be more appropriate if, in fact, these employees perform comparable peace officer duties as the broader class of peace officers who receive this benefit.

Analysis Prepared by: Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086 FN: 0000362

Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE

Tom Daly, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1451

Author:(Chávez) – As Amended Ver:March 26, 2015

SUBJECT: Workers’ compensation: public employees

SUMMARY: Authorizes enhanced temporary disability benefits (known as "4850 time" for specified lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside. Specifically, this bill:

1. Adds lifeguards employed by the City of Oceanside on a full-time, year-round basis to the class of public safety employees who receive special, enhanced temporary disability benefits when they are unable to work due to illness or injury that arose out of, or in the course of, employment.
   
   

2. Includes legislative findings that a special law is necessary within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.
   
   EXISTING LAW:
   
   

1. Provides for a comprehensive system of benefits paid for by employers to employees who suffer illness or injury that arises out of, or in the course of, employment.
   
   

2. Includes temporary disability benefits (TD) for up to 104 weeks if an employee is temporarily unable to work during recuperation from the workplace illness or injury.
   
   

3. Establishes a minimum and a maximum amount that an employee may receive, which is adjusted annually to reflect rising wage levels. Currently the minimum benefit is $165 per week, and the maximum benefit is $1103 . The benefit is calculated based on 2/3 of an employee's average weekly wages, subject to the maximum cap.
   
   

4. Provides specified public safety officers with an enhanced temporary disability benefit for up to the first year of temporary disability. These safety officers receive their full salary (tax free) during the first year of temporary disability.
   
   

5. Includes lifeguards who are full time year round employees of the County of Los Angeles and the City of San Diego among the safety officers who are entitled to this special enhanced temporary disability benefit.
   
   

6. Provides that a special statute is invalid if a general statute could be made applicable.

FISCAL EFFECT: Undetermined increased workers' compensation costs to the City of Oceanside.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author, the bill is intended to correct an oversight that left out the City of Oceanside lifeguards when the City of San Diego lifeguards were added to the "4850" leave of absence law in 2013, when SB 527 (Block) – Statutes 2013, Chapter 66 – was enacted. The author asserts that the Oceanside lifeguards "have the same responsibilities, training, and meet the mandates of the law to receive the benefit." The author asserts that both the employer and employee association agree (as was the case with the expansion for City of San Diego lifeguards) that this change is appropriate.
   
   

2. Collective bargaining? If a local public agency wants to grant employees certain benefits of employment, it is able to accomplish that goal without need for a statutory change. In fact, the City of Los Angeles has provided "4850-like" benefits to a range of employees without need of a statute mandating the benefit for those employees. If it is correct, as the author asserts, that both the City and its employees are in agreement, then the collective bargaining process, and not legislation, may be the better approach to enhancing the benefits of this class of employee.
   
   

3. Temporary disability benefits. The goal of TD is to approximate an employee's take home pay during the period after injury when the employee is temporarily unable to work. This goal is implemented by basing the weekly TD benefit on 2/3 of the employee's average weekly wages. Because there is a cap, employees who make more than approximately $1600 per week do not reach this 2/3 goal, but because the benefit is tax free, most employees receive an adequate TD benefit while they are recovering.
   
   

4. Special public safety benefits. Public safety officers (police, sheriff, and firefighter employees generally) receive certain special workers' compensation benefits that other employees do not receive. Most notably, this class of employee has the benefit of a range of "presumptions" that certain illnesses or injuries are automatically deemed to be work related. All other employees are required to prove that their condition is work related. The second significant special workers' compensation benefit is granted by Labor Code Section 4850 – commonly referred to as "4850 time" – and this law grants defined employees up to one year of full salary in lieu of the regular method for calculating TD benefits. The author asserts that these lifeguards are sufficiently like other peace officers as to justify awarding them the special disability leave benefits.
   
   

5. Tax advantages. Because these benefits are paid due to disability, they are not subject to either state or federal taxes. This applies to regular TD benefits, and to 4850 benefits. Because of the tax-free status of this benefit, a public safety officer takes home substantially more in weekly benefits than they normally earn while working – i.e., normal take home pay plus what would have been paid in taxes. Public employers have long complained that this creates a disincentive in getting injured public safety officers to return to work, even if they are able, due to the financial loss they would suffer when they return. The extent of the return to work disincentive may be unclear with respect to these particular employees, but factually, they make more money while off duty than when they return.
   
   

6. Lifeguards. It appears that the year round, full-time lifeguards employed by Los Angeles County were included in the original legislation in 1983 that established Labor Code Section 4850. It is not clear why those employees were included, nor whether they perform substantially public safety and law enforcement duties, as is claimed by the City of San Diego or the City of Oceanside lifeguards. However, if the expansion of public safety officer benefits to other classes of employee is appropriate, the legislation should be clear that the employees must be public safety officers.
   
   In addition, if there is a class of employee – lifeguards employed by various city, county, state park, or special district employers -- it is not clear why a "special law" is an appropriate vehicle to provide this class of employees with safety officer special benefits. A general law, applicable to the whole class of employees, may be more appropriate if, in fact, these employees perform comparable peace officer duties as the broader class of peace officers who receive this benefit.
   
   

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Oceanside Peace Officers Association (Sponsor)

Opposition

None received

Analysis Prepared by: Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086