The coalition letter urged the Legislature to enact meaningful tort reform for civil actions against public entities. New data released by the California Association of Joint Powers

Authorities (CAJPA) “confirms what our members have been warning lawmakers about for years: public entity liability costs have tripled in the last seven years, now exceeding $7 billion in known exposure. Costs are on pace to grow another 70 percent by 2027–28. The fiscal trajectory is unsustainable, the structure of liability is fundamentally unfair to taxpayers, and the consequences are now measured in billions of dollars diverted away from classrooms, fire stations, roads, mental health services, and the essential programs Californians depend on every day.”

The letter lays out The Path Forward.

We urge the Legislature to advance a comprehensive tort reform package for civil

actions against public entities that, at minimum, include the following:

• Defined benefits including caps on damages in civil actions against public entities, ensuring survivors and other injured parties are made whole while preserving the capacity to deliver essential public services.           

• Proportional (several) liability for economic damages in civil actions against public entities, so that taxpayers pay only for the share of harm actually attributable to the public agency. This way the perpetrators bear the cost of their own conduct and not taxpayers.

• Heightened evidentiary and procedural standards for claims where witnesses, records, and evidence archives are absent or insufficient to assign culpability.

Signers of the letter restated their keep and unwavering commitment to ensuring that survivors of harm receive justice, support, and meaningful compensation. California’s public agencies are not asking for insulation from accountability. We do not seek to deny survivors their day in court. Instead, we seek to fix a system that, as currently structured, transfers enormous wealth to plaintiffs’ law firms and threatens the financial solvency of the very public agencies tasked with protecting and serving our vulnerable community members.

The letter was signed by our coalition partners including:

·        League of California Cities (CalCities)

·        California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO)

·        Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)

·        California School Boards Association (CSBA)

·        Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC)

·        California Laino School Boards Association

·        School Excess Liability Fund (SELF)

·        League of United Latin American Citizens

·        Los Angeles Unified School District

CAJPA will continue to strongly advocate with our coalition partners to make the Legislature act on this crucial reform!

If you or your JPA members are interested in signing onto this Coalition letter please email CAJPA Executive Director Catherine Smith at casmith@cajpa.org with your request to sign onto the letter, name and title of signer, electronic signature, and agency logo.

Questions on these legislative efforts can be directed to CAJPA Legislative Advocate Faith Borges at fborges@publicpolicypartnership.com.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) will release their overview and assessment of the May Revision a few days following publication. Assembly and Senate budget subcommittees will start to convene to review the governor’s May Revision proposals. Legislative leaders will also start to develop a united response budget package and drafting the budget bill termed “Budget Act.” The Legislature must pass the Budget Act by June 15, which is its constitutional deadline to send it to the governor. The last two weeks in June will be negotiations between the governor and legislative leadership as the governor must sign the Budget Act by July 1.

CAJPA will be monitoring the State Budget deliberations to identify any issues of concern or opportunity to our JPA members.

Does SB 827 apply to JPAs?

We reached out to the CAJPA legal counsel, BKS Law, with this question. Their response:

Regarding your question about the application of SB 827 to CAJPA members, I do not believe that JPAs generally, and risk-pool JPAs in specific, are subject to SB 827. As enacted, SB 827 applies to “local agencies,” which are defined as “a city, county, city and county, charter city, charter county, charter city and county, school district, county office of education, charter school, or special district.” (Gov’t Code sections 53234 and 53238.) CAJPA members are independent public agencies as defined in Section 6507 of the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. They are not one of the types of public agencies listed in Government Code sections 53234 and 53238. Compare the Brown Act, which provides in Government Code section 54951 that the Brown Act applies to any ‘“local agency” [that is] a county, city, whether general law or chartered, city and county, town, school district, municipal corporation, district, political subdivision, or any board, commission or agency thereof, or other local public agency.” This shows that when the Legislature wants to include JPAs in the application of a statute, it provides a definition broad enough to include them. Because the Legislature did not do this in the case of SB 827, I conclude it does not apply to CAJPA members.

They did note that individual representatives appointed to member JPAs may have an obligation at their home agency to take SB 827 training, but that depends on their position at the home agency. 

This year’s estimate is especially significant. DIR has indicated a projected increase in the assessment factors ranging from 85% to 95%.

We want to emphasize that these figures are preliminary and subject to change, as additional data is still being evaluated. DIR attributes the anticipated increase primarily to continued growth in the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund (SIBTF), along with broader departmental cost pressures, including increased staffing needed to process SIBTF claims.

To provide context, benefits paid per SIBTF claim have risen sharply over the past decade—from $13,699 to $80,814. Total fund liabilities for resolved and pending cases are now estimated to be as high as $28 billion, according to actuarial analyses.

The significant impact of SIBTF on employer assessments is why Governor Newsom has directed the development of proposed reforms as part of the state budget process. CAJPA strongly supports the Governor’s Budget Trailer Bill language addressing these issues. Additional information, including our coalition letter of support, is available here.

VIEW COALITION LETTER

It is important to note that the worst-case planning scenario—nearly doubling of the assessment—assumes that legislative reforms are not enacted. If the Governor’s proposed reforms are successful in addressing pending cases, the future growth in the assessment factors could be mitigated.

This issue remains a top priority for CAJPA. It was a central focus of our recent Legislative Action Day, and we will continue to advocate aggressively on behalf of our members throughout the budget process and legislative year.

Please also keep in mind that each agency’s final assessment is influenced by multiple factors, including total indemnity payments. The estimated increase discussed here applies only to the DIR assessment factors component; your agency’s workers’ compensation experience will continue to affect your overall costs.

CAJPA will keep members informed as updated figures become available later this year.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at info@cajpa.org.

Trial attorneys are reaping huge payouts. Trial attorneys are increasingly making massive profits from taxpayers, with the amount increasingly rapidly — estimated to cost nearly half a billion dollars in 2026-27 alone.

Communities are suffering the impacts of drained funding. When funds get drained from local governments and schools, it results in direct impacts to our communities — everything from worsening student literacy rates to higher child poverty rates. This is the result of causal analysis that already accounts for characteristics and trends that are occurring in a community — the chart below is the causal analysis of what happens in a community one year after a claim over $1M. 

“These lawsuit costs are not just numbers on a spreadsheet — they represent fewer teachers in classrooms, fewer firefighters saving lives and homes from wildfires, fewer road repairs, and fewer resources for the most vulnerable in our communities. Without reforms, these costs will continue to escalate and taxpayers will keep footing the bill.” — Marinda Griese, President of CAJPA

The report notes that these alarming trends persist even though the dataset excludes major self-insured jurisdictions like Los Angeles County and LAUSD — meaning the true statewide cost is even higher.

“Assume you have two sister cities with the same demographics and socioeconomics (income, education, race/ethnicity, poverty rates, K-12 Assessment rates, etc.), and one of them incurs a $1 million claim while the other does not — the city that incurred the claim will experience a 1% higher child poverty rate, higher inequity, a 10% increase in SNAP benefit utilization, accelerated degradation in K-12 pass rates, and much more. All within a single year. These are real effects, they are large, and many. Struggling pockets in public jurisdictions will struggle more due to that claim.” — Nick Mastronardi, PhD CEO of Polco and Director of the National Research Center

CAJPA and its members are calling for urgent, statewide action to reform the liability system and prevent long-term damage to California’s public institutions.

About CAJPA

The California Association of Joint Powers Authorities represents public risk-sharing pools across the state, working to protect taxpayer funds and maintain the delivery of essential public services.

For the full report, click here: Protecting Public Funds: The Rising Cost of Claims Against California Public Entities.

SB 558 (Rubio) – Civil Actions: Childhood Sexual Abuse
Signed into law by Governor Newsom, this bill further expands the definition of childhood sexual assault (previously expanded by AB 218) to include childhood sexual assault material (CSAM) for CSA that occurs before January 1, 2024:

• Expands the definition of sexual assault to include obscene matter depicting minors engaged in or simulating sexual conduct - think sexting and electronic transmission of photographs.
  
• Allows for claims based on CSAM to be filed up to the age of 40, or within 10 years of the date the plaintiff discovers the existence of obscene matter.

Although child safety is always a top priority for CAJPA and its members, CAJPA opposed SB 558 as the bill creates retroactive liability and revives expired claims against an employer, including school districts, community colleges, public agencies, and others, where there has been a claim against an employee of that organization for penal code violations that involved alleged child sexual abuse materials (CSMA) prior to January 1, 2024.  This bill was amended into its current form at the very end of the legislative session which resulted in little opportunity for CAJPA and other opponents to attempt to clarify a variety of ambiguities or unknowns created by this bill including, for example, whether it applies to activities that only involve student(s).  Opponents to SB 558 shared concerns about the inconsistency of the bill language with federal law, ambiguous language, and the far back reaching time for claims. CAJPA will continue to support future efforts to secure clarification on implementation of this legislation and its potential impact to public agencies to hopefully avoid having some of these issues resolved through litigation. 

AB 452 (Addis) – Child Sexual Assault:  Statute of Limitations
Current law requires that specified actions for recovery of damages suffered because of childhood sexual assault, as defined, be commenced within 22 years of the date the plaintiff attains the age of majority (18) or within 5 years of the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the sexual assault, whichever occurs later. 

Current law prohibits certain of those actions from commencing on or after the plaintiff’s 40th birthday unless the person or entity knew or had reason to know, or was otherwise on notice, of any misconduct that creates a risk of childhood sexual assault by an employee, volunteer, representative, or agent, or the person or entity failed to take reasonable steps or to implement reasonable safeguards to avoid acts of childhood sexual assault, as specified. 

As of January 1, 2024, the law pertaining to these claims has changed as follows:    

• Time limits for the commencement of actions for the recovery of damages suffered because of childhood sexual assault have been eliminated for any alleged assault that occurs on or after January 1, 2024. 
• Eliminates the prohibition on certain actions proceeding on or after the plaintiff’s 40th birthday unless specified conditions are met. 

CAJPA respectfully opposed AB 452 which will eliminate the statute of limitations to bring a civil action against an employer, including school districts, public agencies, and others, where there has been a claim against an employee of that organization for alleged child sexual assault that occurs on or after January 1, 2024. CAJPA worked diligently with the author’s office to ensure that this bill would at least only address prospective occurrences and not be retroactive.  

2024 is the second year of a two-year legislative session. The Legislature reconvenes on January 3, 2024. With the upcoming November elections, this will certainly be a lively year for legislative activities. CAJPA Legislative Committee will be monitoring all bills that may impact members and will update members as bills move through the Legislature. 

Please note that each agency’s assessment is calculated based on several distinct elements, including total indemnity payments. These reported assessment numbers only apply to the assessment factor that comes from DIR. Workers’ compensation costs, such as paid indemnity, will affect the amount and percentage change in each employer’s final assessment.

CFO Iverson stated that the assessment factor is less than expected due to sufficient fund balances following years of increases. Director Hagen shared that advancements in data systems and automation should provide greater system improvements and steady future assessments as DIR continues to do its best to keep costs to a minimum. CAJPA members greatly appreciate these efforts in recognition of the many complex contributing factors, including DIR’s implementation of three dozen new laws.

CAJPA looks forward to updating members on future preliminary assessment planning figures in the Spring of 2024 as they become available from DIR as a part of state budget deliberations.

The Legislative Committee is currently looking to fill an observer position on the Healthcare Subcommittee. An observer is a volunteer who is introduced to CAJPA’s legislative efforts and mentored by the Subcommittee, so they are prepared to step into a committee member position in the future.

If you feel passionate about issues that affect CAJPA’s members and have interest in joining the Legislative Committee, please provide a short statement of interest letter and CV to CAJPA’s Legislative Assistant Brett Moore at bmoore@cajpa.org by Friday, December 8, 2023. The Legislative Committee will be reviewing submissions. If you need additional information, please reach out to CAJPA Executive Director Catherine Smith at casmith@cajpa.org.

AB 489 extended the sunset on this authorization until January 1, 2025.  AB 489 continues the effort stemming from SB 880, adopted as Labor Code 4651, that went into effect in 2019. The law, until January 1, 2023, authorized an employer, with the written consent of the employee, to deposit disability indemnity payments for the employee in a prepaid card account that meets specified requirements, including allowing the employee reasonable access to in-network automatic teller machines.  The sunset was extended one year by AB 2148 (Calderon, 2022)

The bill was addressing a challenge for many injured workers because temporary disability could only be transmitted to injured workers by either a paper check or direct deposit, which presented unique challenges for “unbanked” households -- households where no one in the household has a bank account. For unbanked workers, direct deposit would generally not be available. Without a relationship with a financial institution, cashing a check without significant fees can also prove challenging.  The bill was designed to assist these households by starting the process of regularizing the use of prepaid card accounts for TD payment as an authorized method for delivering unemployment insurance benefits.

• Extend the existing workers’ compensation presumption for specified peace officers that a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) is occupational to January 1, 2032 (from January 1, 2025)
• Expand the PTSI workers’ compensation presumption to additional categories of peace officers including public investigators, public security officers, public safety dispatchers, public safety telecommunicators, and any peace officer employed by a K-12 public school district, and many more.

The coalition’s opposition is based on the increased cost this expansion would impose on public employers without any evidence that the current workers’ compensation system is failing these vital employees. There is no evidence that a presumption is warranted. 

CAJPA is asking its members to sign onto the Oppose SB 623 Coalition letter to help strengthen efforts to educate legislators that the intent of this bill to extend PTSI is not based on actual experience or analysis and would drive up costs for struggling public entities that are trying to provide emergency services.

To add your organization’s name to the coalition letter, please send an email to CAJPA Legislative Assistant Brett Moore at bmoore@cajpa.org with the following information:

• Expressed permission to add your pool’s name to the letter
• A jpeg logo
• A signatory from the organization 

Please respond no later than May 31, 2023 to be added to the coalition letter. If you need any additional information to consider this request, please email CAJPA’s Legislative Advocate Faith Borges at fborges@caladvocates.com.  

Thank you for strengthening the voice of California’s public agency employers.

While increases are never met with fanfare, a projected increase that is potentially less than the rate of inflation is welcomed news. Though the numbers are preliminary and subject to change, we are happy to relay the optimistic forecast. DIR attributed the anticipated moderate increase to improved modeling and sufficient fund balance levels. 

Please remember that each agency's assessment is calculated based on several elements, including total indemnity payments. This estimate increase only applies to the assessment factors that come from DIR. Your agency's workers’ compensation costs will affect the amount and percentage change of your final assessment.

CAJPA will update members on future assessment figures when they become available later this year.

The Legislative Committee is currently looking to fill a vacancy on the Loss Control Sub-Committee. The Legislative Committee currently has strong representation from school/education pools. We encourage interested parties with knowledge in loss control and who represent other types of risk sharing pools to consider applying for this opening but will consider all applicates.

If you feel passionate about issues that affect CAJPA’s members and have interest in joining the Legislative Committee, please provide a short statement of interest letter and CV to CAJPA’s Executive Director, Catherine Smith, at casmith@cajpa.org by Friday, February 10, 2023. The Legislative Committee will be reviewing submissions. If you need additional information, please reach out to CAJPA staff. 

CFO Iverson shared that the actual increase is less than expected due to higher accumulated fund balances from the previous fiscal year. As you may recall, the assessment last year had a 19.62% increase in the factor. So, the lower assessment this year is partially due to the difference between the assessment and actual expenses last year.  

Despite the welcomed news that the assessment is not as high as members were told to plan for, it is still a double digit increase which DIR attributed in large part to three things. First, the assessment funds department operation costs and staff. Notably there has been a lowering of Divisions’ vacancy rates with the Division of Workers’ Compensation down to an 8% vacancy rate. Second, is action taken by the legislature which results in a need to implement legislative budget change proposals (BCPs). Following a very active legislative session, DIR submitted nearly a dozen related BCPs to implement recently enacted laws. Lastly, claims, particularly Subsequent Injury Benefit Trust Fund (SIBTF) claims continue to be a driver. 

Regarding the last driver, Director Hagen shared that DIR recently awarded a contract to the Rand Corporation to perform a program evaluation of SIBTF to better understand program function, efficiencies, and improvements. Director Hagen was also optimistic that system improvements and advancements in data systems and automation will yield near-term system improvements and mitigate the need for future increases.

Please note that each agency’s assessment is calculated based on several distinct elements, including total indemnity payments. The reported increase only applies to the assessment factor that comes from DIR. Members workers’ compensation costs will affect the amount and percentage change in each final assessment. 

CAJPA looks forward to updating members on future preliminary assessment planning figures in Spring 2023 as they become available from DIR as a part of state budget deliberations. 

California legislators introduced over 2,000 bills this year. Of those, the Governor signed 997 into law and vetoed 169. CAJPA’s Legislative Committee reviewed nearly 350 bills and designated about a dozen bills as key bills. Of those key bills, the vast majority were workers’ compensation related. Of 28 actively tracked workers’ comp bills, 15 bills were killed throughout the year, 4 were vetoed by the Governor (including proposed presumption and “4850 time” expansions) and 9 were signed into law, 8 of which the employer/payor community supported, sponsored or was neutral on. The one exception or “loss” is SB 1127 (Atkins) which was signed into law/chaptered. Thank you to those of you who participated in CAJPA’s veto efforts by sending individual letters. Your efforts are appreciated and not in vain as discussed below. 

Beginning January 1, 2023, SB 1127 shortens the time employers have to investigate presumptive claims from 90 to 75 days. The bill also more than doubles the duration of temporary disability for cancer claims from 104 to 240 weeks for claims covered by a cancer presumption. Lastly, the bill creates up to $50,000 in penalties on all claims covered by presumption statutes, including COVID-19, in situations where liability has been “unreasonably rejected… or unreasonably delayed” which are undefined terms within the statute. While the bill will not take effect until January, the penalty provision shall apply to all presumptive injuries, without regard to whether the injury occurs before, on, or after the operative date of this section.

Though this measure being signed into law is disappointing, it is not the final word. This topic has moved to the top of the list of items needing to be addressed in future workers’ compensation legislation/regulation that we anticipate will occur as a part of a larger reform package next year. Illustrating that the bill is not solving the root causes for delayed (or provisionally denied) claims is the Department of Workers’ Compensation’s recent request for an extra 30 days to schedule appointments with qualified medical evaluators. Demanding employers accept liability within 75 days or pay $50,000 in taxpayer-funded penalties while injured workers may not even be examined for 90 days, demonstrates the bill was not passed as serious reform but as a product of the political theater in an election year. If you have ideas for meaningful workers’ compensation reform, please email CAJPA’s Workers’ Compensation Subcommittee Chair, Jackie Miller at jacquelyn.miller@sedgwick.com.

In addition to workers’ compensation key bills, there are several other recently enacted laws that should be on your radar. 

In the wake of escalating violence towards those working in public service, here is some good news. SB 1131 (Newman) was signed into law and is effective now as an urgency measure. This authorizes public employees and contractors to apply for the Safe at Home (SAH) program administered by the California Secretary of State's office. SAH provides a substitute mailing address for enrollees to receive first class, certified, and registered mail. The address is accepted by California state, county, and city government agencies in lieu of a residential or other mailing address whereby a home address can be tracked down. SAH keeps residential addresses confidential and out of the hands of someone who might obtain them with the intent to harm an applicant or their families.

Pertaining to public meetings, these three measures were signed into law:
S

B 1100 (Cortese) CHAPTERED
Authorizes the presiding member of the legislative body conducting a meeting or their designee to remove an individual for disrupting the meeting. Requires removal to be preceded by a warning- if the individual does not promptly cease their disruptive behavior. The bill defines “disrupting” for this purpose.

AB 2449 (Blanca Rubio) CHAPTERED
Allows, until January 1, 2026, members of a legislative body of a local agency to use teleconferencing without identifying each teleconference location and making it publicly accessible provided at least a quorum of the members of the body participates in person at a singular physical location and meet additional requirements.  

AB 2647 (Levine) CHAPTERED
Exempts local agencies from making materials available for public inspection at the time they distribute them to members of the legislative body less than 72 hours before the meeting if the agency meets certain requirements. 

Also of note, this week Governor Newsom announced that the statewide state-of-emergency pertaining to COVID will be expiring on February 28, 2023. This may have an impact on current law enacted by AB 361 (Rivas, Chapter 165, Statutes of 2021) which allows, until January 1, 2024, local agencies to use teleconferencing without complying with specified Ralph. M Brown Act restrictions in certain state emergencies, and provides similar authorizations, until January 31, 2022, for state agencies subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act and legislative bodies subject to the Gloria Romero Open Meetings Act of 2000.

• The proposed DWC rules
• Information on SAH
• Bill text, analysis and outcomes 
• Governor’s press release to end COVID-19 State of Emergency

CAJPA urges you to take action to help prevent the passing of SB 1127 and refrain from undue burden being placed upon employer’ ability to rightfully handle workers’ compensation claims. Attached you will find a letter addressed to Governor Newsom which indicates which parts of the bill CAJPA takes issue with and why we believe it should be vetoed. Within the letter you will find two places that need to be customized to yourself, the date the letter is sent and your signature.

Please create your own version using the CAJPA template and then send the letters to Leg.Unit@gov.ca.gov. Your emails should also be CC’d to Stuart Thompson, Chief Deputy Legislative Secretary, at stuart.thompson@gov.ca.gov and Faith Borges, CAJPAs’ Legislative Advocated, at fborges@caladvocates.com. These letter should be submitted as soon as possible, but no later than September 30, 2022 when the decision takes place. 

Thank you and please support CAJPAs’ push to veto on SB 1127.

• Governor’s Press Release
• Governors May Revise

AB 361, which allows local government agencies to continue to conduct virtual meetings as long as there is a state-proclaimed state of emergency, was signed by Governor Newsom last week. AB 361 amends the Brown Act immediately to allow legislative bodies of local agencies to meet remotely during state-declared emergencies under certain conditions. AB 361 was introduced to extend Executive Order (N-29-20) that applied to public agencies and teleconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.  That order was set to expire on September 30, 2021. Although AB 361 had an urgency clause which means the bill goes into effect immediately on Monday, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-15-21, waiving the application of AB 361 until October 1, 2021. This action was taken to provide clarity for local legislative and state bodies about the application requirements for holding remote meetings.   

A number of provisions of the Brown Act are suspended under AB 361. Some new rules include: 

• Agendas need not be posted at all teleconference locations.
• Each teleconference location need not be identified in the notice and agenda of the meeting.
• Each teleconference location need not be accessible to the public.
• A quorum of the members of the legislative body do not need to participate in the meeting from locations within the boundaries of the territory over which the public agency exercises jurisdiction.

• There is a proclaimed state of emergency by the Governor; 
• And one of these circumstances must exist:
• State or local officials have imposed or made recommendations for social distancing measures. 
• The meeting is held of the local legislative body to determine, by majority vote, that an in-person meeting would pose “imminent risks to the health or safety of attendees.” 

• There is still an active state of emergency or local measures or recommendations for social distancing.
• Every 30 days, the legislative body must make finding by majority vote that “The state of emergency continues to directly impact the ability of the members to meet safely in person.” 

• Requires a public comment period where the public can address the legislative body directly
• Prohibits legislative bodies from limiting public comments to only comments submitted in advance, and specifies that the legislative body “must provide an opportunity for the public to offer comment in real-time."
• The body must allow for public comment up until the public comment period is closed at the meetings.
• Meeting agendas must include access information for the public to attend the meeting and provide comments remotely.
• If technical problems occur which impacts the broadcast of the virtual meeting or prevents public comments, the legislative body may not take any vote or official action until the issue is corrected and public access restored.

California Code of Regulations section 15201 defines Adjusting location sites for telecommuting with this language "In the event that claims are administered at the home of a telecommuting adjuster, the location shall be considered as a separate adjusting location for reporting and audit purposes unless the telecommuting adjuster reports to a California location of the administrator no less than weekly."   
Current COVID-19 working conditions are now requiring many Adjusting locations to revert to at home adjusting. Therefore, the requirement for onsite reporting no less than weekly may not be reasonable or possible for many Adjusting locations.

The Chief of the Office of Self-Insurance Plans (OSP), Lyn Asio-Booz has recently provided guidance for meeting the requirement with this message: “It has been brought to my attention that there is concern regarding the need for employees to be working remotely during this time of pandemic. I do not wish to further add to their burden during this time with respect to the requirement that a telecommuting adjuster report to a location at least once a week in order for it to not be considered a separate location for both reporting and auditing purposes.”

“During the pandemic, the Office of Self-Insurance Plans will not be requiring in person reporting to the appropriate office location. We will accept virtual reporting as being the same as in person reporting. Doing so will not be seen as being in violation of this specific section.”

Adjusting locations which allow at home adjusting are encouraged to meet this accommodation with regular, weekly remote communication.

To see the full language of this definition please visit the DIR website.

You read that correctly. Since annual employer assessments are billed in late November and are due by the end of December, DIR customarily provides CAJPA with a worst-case scenario estimate in the Spring to aide members in budgetary planning. This year the early estimate that members were advised to plan for was a 13-15 percent increase. This early estimate has been adjusted downward - way downward. The assessment is decreasing by 14.09 percent. That is something to cheer about.

Late last week representatives from the CAJPA participated in the annual DIR stakeholder briefing prior to the release of the 2021 assessments later this week. Present on the teleconference for Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) was Director, Katie Hagen, Chief Deputy Director, Deanna Ping, Budget Officer, Jill Garcia, and Chief Financial Officer, Greg Edwards.

DIR attributed the decrease to three primary factors:

1. The Department currently has a high number of vacancies, which resulted in reduced program expenditures.
2. The Governor’s May Revise Budget required reductions to personnel services expenses (achieved through furloughs).
3. The aggregate pool of paid indemnity continues to increase.

It is important to note that the first two factors are short term factors that are not sustainable over the long term. However, this year as the pool of indemnity paid by self-insured employers grew and Department’s costs decreased, the combination produced significant savings which have been passed on in the decreased assessment factor.

Please remember that each agency's assessment is calculated based on several elements, including total indemnity payments. This increase only applies to the assessment factors that come from DIR. Your agency's workers compensation costs will affect the amount and percentage change of your final assessment.

CAJPA will continue to update members on future assessment figures as they become available in early 2021 as part of the annual state budget deliberations. Happy Holidays.

SACRAMENTO – As COVID-19 cases sharply increase across the country and California, Governor Gavin Newsom and state public health officials announced immediate actions today to slow the spread of the virus. The state is pulling an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy resulting in 94.1 percent of California’s population in the most restrictive tier. This change is effective tomorrow. The state will reassess data continuously and move more counties back if necessary. California is also strengthening its face covering guidance to require individuals to wear a mask whenever outside their home, with limited exceptions.

“We are sounding the alarm,” said Governor Newsom. “California is experiencing the fastest increase in cases we have seen yet –faster than what we experienced at the outset of the pandemic or even this summer. The spread of COVID-19, if left unchecked, could quickly overwhelm our health care system and lead to catastrophic outcomes. That is why we are pulling an emergency brake in the Blueprint for a Safer Economy. Now is the time to do all we can – government at all levels and Californians across the state – to flatten the curve again as we have done before.”

The rate of growth in confirmed COVID-19 cases is faster than it was in July, which led to a significant peak in cases. This requires a swift public health response and action from all Californians to slow the spread of the virus. Immediate action will help protect individuals at higher risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 and will help keep the state’s health care delivery system from becoming overwhelmed.

“The data we are seeing is very concerning. We are in the midst of a surge, and time is of the essence. Every day matters and every decision matters,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “Personal decisions are critical, and I am I imploring every Californian to stay home if they can, wear a mask whenever they leave their homes, limit mixing, practice physical distancing and wash their hands.”

CAJPA is pleased to report that Phase 1 of the Tort Liability Data Analysis Project is finalized and results now available to members. CAJPA commissioned this special project to compile and analyze California’s public sector tort liability claims with the goal of identifying potential tort reform opportunities. CAJPA leadership heard from members how concerned they are as tort liability costs continue to skyrocket and threaten both the long-term financial stability of an agency as well as the ability to secure essential coverages at a reasonable price. The cost of claims, driven by unexpectedly high jury verdicts, social inflation, settlements and defense costs has created a hard liability insurance market and are placing severe financial pressures on California public entities. Phase 2 of the project is underway and expected to be completed by the end of 2020. The findings from this project will provide CAJPA and its members with comprehensive data that can drive future strategies on tort liability reform efforts to seek relief for California’s risk sharing pools.

Special thanks to those CAJPA members who have provided vital financial support for the project and/or responded to the Phase 1 data call. This project is not possible without the participation of CAJPA members. Data was provided by individual pools as well as through excess pools. Again, thank you for your support and participation in this collaborative effort which will benefit California’s risk sharing community!

Upon completion of Phase 2, CAJPA will host a virtual briefing on the findings for members.

If you have any questions or would like to support the Tort Liability Data Analysis Project, please contact CAJPA Executive Director Catherine Smith at casmith@cajpa.org.

Stay safe.

• AB 290 support, chaptered, win
• AB 651 support, chaptered, win
• AB 824 support, chaptered, win
• AB 1249 oppose, vetoed, win

 Safety and Loss Control

• AB 302 oppose, held as 2-year bill, win
• AB 891 oppose, veto, win
• SB 338 support, chaptered, win

Joint Powers Authorities

• AB 315 oppose, held in rules committee, win
• AB 891 oppose, veto, win
• AB 1353 oppose, chaptered, loss
• SB 266 oppose, held as 2-year bill, win
• SB 355 support, chaptered, win

Workers’ Compensation

• AB 346 oppose, veto, win
• AB 932 oppose unless amended, held as 2-year bill, win
• AB 1107 oppose, held as 2-year bill, win
• AB 1400 neutral, chaptered, win
• SB 416 oppose, held as 2-year bill, win
• SB 542 oppose, chaptered, loss 
• SB 567 oppose, held as 2-year bill, win
• SB 731 support if amended, held as a 2-year bill, win 

Tort Liability

• AB 9 oppose, chaptered, loss
• AB 206 support, chaptered, win
• AB 218 oppose, chaptered, loss 
• AB 403 oppose, vetoed, win
• AB 628 oppose, held as 2-year bill, win
• AB 749 oppose, chaptered, loss
• AB 891 oppose, vetoed, win
• AB 1595 support/sponsor, chaptered, win