California governor signs PTSD expansions bills, vetoes others
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed bills that will expand and extend an existing post-traumatic stress disorder presumption and vetoed other presumptions for nurses, state game wardens and park rangers, and boating safety officers.
S.B. 623 postpones by four years the statutory sunsetting of the presumption that PTSD is an occupational condition for some first responders until Jan. 1, 2029. The bill also expands the PTSD presumption to include firefighters for the State Hospitals, Developmental Services, Veterans Affairs and Military departments.
Among his vetoes, Gov. Newsom in a message to legislature cited a lack of “clear and compelling evidence” to support expanding presumptions as proposed in A.B. 1145, which would have added to the existing PTSD presumption nurses, psychiatric technicians and medical and social service specialists in certain state departments; in A.B. 699, which would have would have made conditions including skin cancer, hernias, heart trouble, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and biochemical exposure presumptive injuries for some San Diego Fire-Rescue Department workers; and in S.B. 391, which would have added peace officers with the Fish and Wildlife and Parks and Recreation departments to the list of first responders already covered by a presumption that skin cancer is an occupational disease.
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