4850 Time Clarification Bill Introduced
Assembly Member Mike Feuer (D - Beverly Hills) has introduced CPF's co-sponsorship bill, AB 1227. This measure repeals the restriction in Labor Code Section 4850 that limits the public safety disability safeguard known as "4850 time" to only those safety officers who are members of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the Los Angeles' City Employees Retirement System, or a county retirement system operating pursuant to the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (a.k.a. '37 Act).
By eliminating the reference to membership in a specific retirement system, AB 1227 protects public safety personnel, including 
firefighters, who are employed by local public agencies, such as the cities of San Jose or San Diego, that maintain independent retirement systems.
Current state law provides that specified safety officers who are members of CalPERS, the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System or '37 Act county retirement system are entitled to receive, in lieu of temporary disability benefits, a leave of absence without loss of salary, for up to one year following an on-the-job injury.
An unintended inequity exists wherein certain public agency law enforcement officers and firefighters are not being equally afforded this very important safeguard. This occurs in instances where public safety personnel are employed by an agency, such as San Jose or San Diego that has established and independent retirement system, and he or she does not participate in a '37 Act retirement system, CalPERS or the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System.
A firefighter is a firefighter regardless of who issues the uniform. As such, there is a need to remedy this inequity by preventing the inappropriate application of different disability safeguards when our state's firefighters are injured in the course of performing their job-related duties.
AB 1227 was introduced on February 21 and was referred to the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement & Social Security Committee, where it passed out of committee on May 6th with a 7-3 vote. This bill was then referred to the Assembly floor where it was passed with a 48-28 vote on May 18th. This bill was heard in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Comittee on June 25th where it passed with a 5-1 vote. On September 9th AB 1227 passed of the Senate Floor with a 26-8 vote and was then returned to the Assembly for concureence, where is passed on Septemebr 10 where is passed with a 51-21 vote. AB 1227 then went to the Governor's Desk for his final approval. Governor Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law on October 11, 2009 (Chapter 389, Statutes of 2009).
For questions, please contact CPF Legislative Director Amy Howard at ahoward@cpf.org.
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