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
