Workers’ compensation: death benefits.

Senator Umberg, with coauthor Senator Rubio, anchors a proposal that extends health-benefit continuity for families of local public-safety personnel killed in the line of duty by raising the age for minor dependents from 21 to 26. The measure centers on preserving coverage for dependents under the same terms that apply to the surviving spouse prior to death or injury, while preserving an option for the surviving spouse to elect a lump-sum survivor benefit in lieu of ongoing monthly benefits.

Under the bill, eligibility expands to local employees who are firefighters, peace officers described in Penal Code Chapter 4.5, and Sheriff’s Special Officers of the County of Orange. If such an employee is killed in performance of duty or dies from a duty-related injury, the employer must continue health benefits for the deceased employee’s spouse on the same terms as before death, subject to the surviving spouse’s lump-sum option. Minor dependents may continue to receive benefits through age 26, rather than ending at 21, and Government Code 22822 remains in effect to prohibit the surviving spouse from adding new spouses or stepchildren to the continued coverage. The bill also applies the same protections to deaths occurring before September 30, 1996 by providing a retroactive scope.

From a regulatory and implementation perspective, the bill relies on existing structures within the Labor Code and Government Code without creating a new administrative body. It requires local employers and benefit programs to implement the longer dependent-coverage window and to coordinate with plan terms that govern continued coverage, including the option for a lump-sum survivor benefit. Fiscal considerations indicate no new state appropriation; costs, if any, would fall to local governments and their benefit programs, driven by extended dependent coverage and related administrative requirements. The retroactive provision can raise procedural questions for employers and plans regarding past cases and eligibility timelines, though the text does not prescribe procedural steps.

Contextually, the measure broadens the class of covered local employees to include Orange County’s Sheriff’s Special Officers and preserves the existing framework that ties survivor coverage to the same terms as the decedent’s benefits, with a maintained prohibition on adding new family members to coverage. By expanding the dependent-coverage window and clarifying retroactive applicability, the proposal situates itself within ongoing efforts to align posthumous support for public-safety families with the terms of survivor benefits, while leaving the ultimate cost and administration to local benefit plans and governing authorities.