On September 25, 2024, Governor Newsom vetoed Senate Bill
1058, which would have extended 4850 benefits to about 200 park rangers
currently employed by cities, counties, and subdivisions of the state.
Introduced by Sen. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, the bill would have allowed
county and special district park rangers who experience a work-related injury
or illness to receive full-pay salary continuation benefits in lieu of
temporary disability.
Current
law (under Labor Code section 4850) allows law enforcement, firefighters, and
probation officers to receive their full pay when temporarily disabled due to a
work injury. Ashby and bill supporters claim the new measure would provide
rangers with the same benefit enjoyed by other law enforcement officers who
perform similar duties and face similar risks. The bill seeks to address these
blatant gaps in workers’ compensation and disability protections.
In
her bill analysis presented to the Senate Committee on Labor, Ashby noted that
park rangers who obtain peace officer’s standards training, among other duties,
provide public safety services at California’s parks and other public
properties. They are often the first responders for medical, fire, and other
emergencies, and part of their duties also entail addressing unlawful homeless
encampments, which places the officers at risk of harm.
Ashby
highlighted that in Sacramento County alone, park rangers issued 226 parking
citations, 138 infractions, made 83 felony arrests and made 62 misdemeanor
arrests just in February of 2024. Moreover, some counties rely on deputy
sheriffs or police officers to fill their park ranger positions, further
emphasizing both the overlap in responsibilities and disparity in protections.
The Sacramento County Criminal Justice Employees’ Union, the sponsor of the
bill, wrote in support: “Extending these protections to all peace officers
employed on a regular, full-time basis…ensures parity across the state and
protects many of these frontline workers.”
In his refusal, however, Newsom, although recognizing the
well-intended measure and the important public service rangers provide, noted
that the bill “would significantly expand 4850 benefits that can be negotiated
locally through the collective bargaining process.” He emphasized that many
local governments face financial stress, and the addition of this costly
benefit should be left to local governments given the fiscal impact.
Despite the bill
passing unanimously in the Senate and Assembly, bill opponents echo Newsom’s
concerns, asserting that: (1) no objective evidence exists to support expanding
salary continuation benefits and (2) the cost to local governments remains
uncertain given the lack of a fiscal impact evaluation. Although no fiscal
impact evaluation exists specifically for this bill (and the bill bypassed the
appropriations committee in either chamber of the Legislature), cost
projections for other similar bills may lend some insight into the potential
costs of SB 1058.
In 2021, the Assembly Appropriations Committee projected that extending 4850 time to firefighters employed by the Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (AB 872) would cost around $1 million a year. The Senate Appropriations Committee, however, estimated an increase in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars annually” and an "increase in overtime costs that would likely be in the millions of dollars annually.” Newsom similarly vetoed AB 872, again despite its unanimous pass by both Legislature chambers. Newsom again emphasized that such negotiations were best addressed through collective bargaining “where consideration of how best to allocate limited resources for this crucial state function is viewed holistically.”
Newsom’s veto mirrors that of previous Governor Jerry Brown, who vetoed AB 1451 (proposed adding lifeguards in Oceanside to Labor Code section 4850) in 2015. Brown relatedly asserted that public employers’ costs had increased at an alarming rate and that cities, through the collective bargaining process, could consider providing salary continuation benefits to lifeguards.
Many
law enforcement associations continue to back the bill, including the Park
Rangers Association of California, the Peace Officers Research Association of
California (PORAC), and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, to
name a few.
The bill is currently sitting in the Senate, with
consideration of the Governor’s veto pending. The Legislature can override the
Governor’s veto by a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and Senate. Hopefully,
lawmakers will override Newsom’s veto given that the initial vote was more than
enough to do so. It has also now been more than a decade since lawmakers have
successfully expanded the list of workers eligible to receive salary
continuation benefits under Labor Code 4850. Hopefully, that fact, coupled with
the importance of providing parity in disability protections afforded to
California’s peace officers, will motivate lawmakers to remain committed to
expanding these rightfully afforded protections to park rangers.
