Workers' Compensation Action Network

04/21/2026

This week, members of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Labor will hear Governor Gavin Newsom's proposed SIBTF reforms. Time to align this benefit program with the rest of the system and end the abuses. Senator María Elena Durazo, Senator Kelly Seyarto ,

A state workers’ compensation fund created after World War II, primarily to help injured veterans get jobs, has morphed into a program that pays up to $1,700 weekly to workers claiming disability for such conditions as diabetes, asthma and allergies.

Read more: https://www.ocregister.com/2026/04/04/costs-soar-for-troubled-state-program-that-pays-workers-up-to-1700-weekly-for-various-ailments/

Observers cite multiple reasons for the increase in Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund applications. First, there were changes in 2004 and 2014 that made it more difficult to get a 100% disability rating in regular workers’ compensation, so injured workers began turning to the SIBTF program to augment their claims.

But the most recent rush on SIBTF applications began with a 2020 workers’ compensation court judgment that made it easier to get a high disability rating in the fund.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office says the SIBTF is operating unfettered and without the same safeguards as the traditional workers’ compensation system. Unsustainable, the fund’s liabilities are expected to hit $30 billion by 2029 amid skyrocketing applications.

📷️: Yui Mok/PA via AP

04/08/2026

https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2026/04/08/editorial-another-state-program-awash-in-waste-abuse/?utm_campaign=mrf-twitter-WhittierNews&mrfcid=2026040869cb7f04d058012df0bc3b87

Democratic officials blame Trump administration cuts to the state, but they fail to wrestle with the absurd levels of waste within the existing budget.

04/07/2026

A well-intentioned program gone off the rails

A state workers’ compensation fund created after World War II, primarily to help injured veterans get jobs, has morphed into a program that pays up to $1,700 weekly to workers claiming disability for such conditions as diabetes, asthma and allergies.

Read more: https://www.ocregister.com/2026/04/04/costs-soar-for-troubled-state-program-that-pays-workers-up-to-1700-weekly-for-various-ailments/

Observers cite multiple reasons for the increase in Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund applications. First, there were changes in 2004 and 2014 that made it more difficult to get a 100% disability rating in regular workers’ compensation, so injured workers began turning to the SIBTF program to augment their claims.

But the most recent rush on SIBTF applications began with a 2020 workers’ compensation court judgment that made it easier to get a high disability rating in the fund.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office says the SIBTF is operating unfettered and without the same safeguards as the traditional workers’ compensation system. Unsustainable, the fund’s liabilities are expected to hit $30 billion by 2029 amid skyrocketing applications.

📷️: Yui Mok/PA via AP

04/05/2026

Well-intentioned program has lost its way . . .

Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to rein in runaway costs for the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, which faces liabilities of $30 billion by 2029.

03/02/2026

California's policymakers are ringing the alarm about runaway costs in the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. Learn how this specialized fund -- once seldom used -- is now paying out more in yearly benefits than the entire system for conditions that are rarely work disabling.

The chart below shows how workers’ compensation assessments charged to by the State of California have increased due to huge increases in SIBTF costs:

09/05/2025

For decades, SIBTF claims were uncommon. But between 2010 and 2022, annual SIBTF applications nearly tripled from 850 to 2,448. During the same period, the average amount paid per SIBTF application increased from $12,237 to $70,342 and total SIBTF payments increased from $14 million to $232 million in 2022.

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09/03/2025

The California Legislative Analyst recently published its assessment of the Subsequent Injuries Benefit Trust Fund.

Key Takeaway: In light of the program’s recent expansion and rising costs, we suggest the Legislature look to refocus SIBTF to more closely align with its original purpose: providing a supplemental workers’ compensation benefit to workers with severe work‑limiting disabilities. In our view, no single option would be enough to refocus SIBTF due to how far the program has drifted from that original purpose.

In this brief we review a once-narrow workers' compensation supplemental payment, known as the Subsequent Injury Benefit Trust Fund (SIBTF), that has looser standards, broader eligibility, and more generous benefits than the standard workers' compensation system. The program pays generous lifetime b...