Last week, Governor G. Newsom issued two Executive Orders of great interest to special districts in his efforts to confront the COVID-19 Pandemic. One deals with delinquent property tax penalties and interest relief and the other with coronavirus-related workers’ compensation. No less than three bills have also been introduced by State Legislators on the issue of workers’ compensation.
Property Tax Executive Order
Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-61-20 related to delinquent property tax payment penalties and interest. The order has been summarized below. This order follows up earlier statements by the Governor and counties regarding property tax relief. While they had earlier agreed to allow counties to deal with genuine hardships on a case-by-case basis, there was not consensus on the flexibility of local tax collectors under existing statute, the order attempts to address those concerns.
Summary of Executive Order N-61-20:
The order waives certain statutes through May 6, 2021 (emphasis added), "… to the extent that it requires a tax collector to impose penalties, costs, or interest for the failure to pay taxes on property on the secured or unsecured roll, or to pay a supplemental bill, before the date and time such taxes became delinquent, and a tax collector shall cancel such penalties, costs, and interest provided all of the following conditions are satisfied:"
- The property for which taxes in question is either a residential real property occupied by the taxpayer, or real property owned and operated by a taxpayer that qualifies as a small business as defined;
- The taxes owed on the property in question were not delinquent prior to March 4, 2020;
- The taxpayer timely files a claim for relief in a form and manner prescribed by the tax collector; and
- The taxpayer demonstrates to the satisfaction of the tax collector that the taxpayer has suffered economic hardship, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or government response to COVID-19.
The Executive Order also covers a few more nuanced scenarios to the same ends. You can find the response of the California State Association of Counties and other affinity groups here.
Workers’ Compensation Executive Order
On the same day, May 6, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-62-20 related to a workers' compensation presumption for COVID-19. Prior to the Order, CSDA was in communication with the Governor's office expressing our concerns with any potential workers’ compensation order that may come out and the Governor addressed a number of our concerns, including making sure that there was a requirement for a positive test for the illness, the order was for a set period of time linked to the statewide stay-at-home order, the presumption needed to be rebuttable, and that benefits would not be expanded.
The Governor’s order creates a rebuttable presumption for the period of March 19, 2020 (Date of Stay-At-Home Order) and July 5, 2020 (60-days from today's Order) whereby any employee that has been directed to work outside of their home by their employer during that time period that tests positive or is diagnosed with COVID-19 that the injury is presumed to have taken place in the workplace and therefore would be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. While the Order lists most of the details, the Department of Industrial Relations will be releasing guidance documents to assist employers and employees to better understand the order on their website located at www.dir.ca.gov in the coming days.
The workers’ compensation presumption is summarized below:
- If diagnosed with COVID-19, the diagnosis must be confirmed by a positive test within 30 days of diagnosis
- Employees qualify if they test positive or are diagnosed within 14-days of going to work (extends to July 19 for employees who work on July 5)
- Apportionment does apply
- Employees may receive temporary disability (TD) payments after exhausting specific federal or state COVID-19 paid sick leave benefits for up to 104 weeks. TD payments stop when either employees return to work, their doctor releases them for work, or their doctor says their illness has improved as much as it’s going to.
- Temporary Disability requires re-certification every 15 days as opposed to the normal 45
- Existing State and Federal leave benefit should be exhausted first
- Does not enhance existing workers' compensation benefits structure
- Period to deny claims is shortened from 90-days to 30-days
- DIR won't collect the state portion of death benefits
Two weeks ago, CSDA along with a coalition of other public agency associations and private industry submitted a letter to the Governor and Legislative Leadership regarding workers compensation presumptions. The letter is intended to help educate policy leaders on the issue from the employer perspective and assist leaders as they consider their options in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether you are well-versed or a novice in workers' compensation policy, the letter is worth a read to become more familiar with the topic.
The employer letter was issued in response to a letter sent by labor unions requesting a workers' compensation presumption on all employers, whereby if any employee gets sick or believes they may have been exposed to COVID-19, that all medical costs, lost wages, and housing costs would be automatically covered by the employer through the workers' compensation system. Since organized labor made its request, and prior to Governor Newsom’s Executive Order, the Legislature introduced three COVID-19 workers' compensation presumption bills: AB 664 (Cooper, Gonzalez), SB 1159 (Hill, Daly), and most recently, the gutted-and-amended AB 196 (Gonzalez).
AB 196, gutted and amended from being a paid family leave bill, would now provide a conclusive COVID-19 workers' compensation presumption for employees who are employed in an occupation or industry deemed "essential" in the Governor's Executive Order of March 19, 2020. The non-rebuttable presumption would extend up to 90 days after the employee leaves employment. It would add substantial costs to the workers’ compensation systemin in the order of billions of dollars annually. AB 196 specifically excludes first responders and healthcare workers, because AB 664 covers those employees with significantly enhanced workers' compensation benefits. CSDA is opposed to both AB 196 and AB 664.
Meanwhile, CSDA and a coalition of employer organizations have adopted a “Concerns” position on SB 1159 (Hill/Daly). This bill is a "work in progress" authored by the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Insurance Committees. The authors have indicated a willingness to work with employers and labor to craft what they hope to be a workable solution.
As more information regarding these legislative measures and Executive Orders becomes available CSDA will be posting the information on Advocacy News and the Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19 Resources communities as appropriate. CSDA Senior Legislative Representative Dillon Gibbons and Legislative Representative Anthony Tannehill will also discuss these issues as part of the Live Legislative Briefing on Tuesday, May 19 during Special Districts Legislative Days. Learn more and register at legislativedays.csda.net.
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