6 Reps sign on to union giveaway

Despite new attention on excessively costly pension giveaways and on disability abuses by state employees, the Assembly is pushing forward an astounding and potentially costly benefit expansion for public safety workers in a bill co-authored by six Republicans. Current law requires the workers comp system to pay an employee for work-related injuries. Unions have secured presumptions — when certain employees get heart attacks, cancer or other common ailments it is presumed to be work related.

According to the bill analysis, AB2253 extends the cancer presumption to firefighters and some peace officers to up to 180 months after termination. So if someone retires at age 55 and gets cancer at age 70, that cancer is presumed to be caused by work and the system pays for all the costs. Given how common it is to get cancer late in life, this is opening the door to enormous costs.

The princi[al coautheors are Jeffries and Solorio. Other coauthors are Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blumenfield, Chesbro, Cook, Fletcher, Fuentes, Hagman, Lieu, Mendoza, Nava, Portantino, Salas and Villines. Senate coauthors are Corbett, DeSaulnier and Price. Consider it a list of union-owned legislators.

–Steven Greenhut