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Breaking News:
New Budget Increases Employers' Cal/OSHA Assessments
July 30, 2009
Issue 34
The Budget Act just signed by Governor Schwarzenegger makes good on a plan to totally eliminate Cal/OSHA's drain on the General Fund. It does so by increasing the current assessments on California's employers by 22%. This shift began in 2008 with the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Fund (OSHF). We reported that development in our April 2008 e-zine.
Under the new 2009/2010 budget, total funding for Cal/OSHA will increase by 5.12% to $109,449,000.00. This includes raises for the Division's safety engineers and a one-time Heat Illness Education outreach program costing $1.530M.
Cal/OSHA receives funding from nine sources, according to DIR Director John Duncan. The General Fund would ordinarily contribute $24.8M to the total for this fiscal year. Instead, the OSHF will pick up the slack by increasing its assessments on California employers by an average of $500.00 for every $100,000.00 paid in premium. We are told that this is only an average: The assessment will be calculated on a sliding scale by which smaller employers will pay less and larger employers more.
Self-insured employers will be assessed by a similar formula which looks to paid indemnity instead of premium. Specific assessment amounts will be released in letters to each of California's employers this November.
The Budget Act provides a "cap" of $52M for Cal/OSHA assessments and the assessments will be on-going until 2013, at which time the percentage will revert to the current level.
The Budget Act includes a similar plan to shift funding for the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) to employers. Under that plan, the DLSE "cap" will be $37M and will fully "sunset" in 2013… unless the Legislature makes other plans.
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