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RESOLUTION NO. 74-44 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA URGING THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE TO ADOPT LEGISLATION PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION BENEFITS SHALL BE LIMITED TO RETIRED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES WHOSE INJURIES DEVELOPED AND MANI- FESTED THEMSELVES DURING THE COURSE OF THEIR EMPLOY- MENT. WHEREAS, the provisions of California's Workmen's Compen- sation statutes provide benefits to retired public employees for injuries which developed during the period of their employ- ment; and WHEREAS, the City of Santa Ana has an interest in insuring that its employees, past, present and future, are adequately protected against disability incurred as a result of public service while at the same time minimizing the expense to the taxpayers of unwarranted compensation for injuries not related to public service; and WHEREAS, recent decisions of the state's Workmen's Compen- sation Appeals Board have unreasonably expanded the basis for compensation by misinterpreting state law to presume, without proof, that injuries which public employees sustain after their retirement are derived from the circumstances of their former jobs; and WHEREAS, these decisions, left uncorrected, threaten to place impossible burdens on cities by adding millions of dol- lars annually to compensation insurance costs without requiring any proof that the injuries for which compensation is paid were related to or in any way derived from service with those cities; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA: 1. That the City of Santa Ana expresses its deep concern over the unwarranted and unreasonable increases in Workmen's Com- pensation liability which will inevitably result from the erro- neous decisions of the Workmen's Compensation Appeals Board and urges the Legislature immediately to adopt corrective legisla- ture limiting benefit payments to cases of injuries which are legitimately both developed and manifested during the course of public employment or within a reasonable and specifically stated period after such employment terminates. 2. That the Clerk of the Council shall distribute copies of this Resolution to the Legislative representatives of the City of Santa Ana, the Assembly Committee on Retirement and the cities of Orange County. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana at its regular meeting held on the 1st day of April 1974. ATTEST: CLERK OF THE COUNCIL