Workers’ compensation: death benefits.

Senator Umberg's workers' compensation legislation extends health coverage for minor dependents of fallen firefighters and peace officers from age 21 to age 26. The measure applies to local government employees killed in the line of duty or who die from injuries sustained while performing their duties.

The bill maintains existing provisions that require employers to continue providing health benefits to surviving spouses under the same terms and conditions in place before the employee's death, unless the spouse opts for a lump-sum payment. Surviving spouses remain unable to add new spouses or stepchildren to their continued coverage. The extended dependent coverage applies both to future cases and retroactively to deaths that occurred before September 30, 1996.