A California bill that allows out-of-state athletes to receiveworkers' compensation benefits for injuries sustained on thestate's sports fields is advancing, inciting mixed responses fromplayers in the insurance industry.

“Workers' compensation, while it is paid by employers in thestate, is causing more than 4,000 claims in California, oftenincluding payouts to athletes that have only played a game or twohere,” says Gary Toebben, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commercepresident and CEO, who supports the measure. “The state has aguarantee corporation, funded by taxpayers, that assumesresponsibility for claims made and approved in the state, soout-of-state claims cause rates to be driven up for employers andtaxpayers in the long run.”

Currently, anyone paying taxes to the California may receivebenefits from its $12 billion workers' compensation system,including professional athletes who have played as little as onegame or inning there. Upwards of 4,500 sports-related claims havebeen filed in California since the 1980s, resulting in $747 millionin payouts.

Professional players from teams in 49 states file claims withinCalifornia, even if they receive money for the same or similarclaim(s) in their home state. These cases typically includesix-figure payouts for injuries like cumulative trauma: NFL memberTerrell Davis played for the Denver Broncos but received $199,000in California. Michael Irvin played for the Dallas Cowboys, andreceived $249,000 under workers' compensation in California.

Assemblyman Henry T. Perea's (D-Fresno) bill AB1309, which haspassed state legislature and is expected to hit the governor's desklater this month, will exempt employees outside of California andtheir employers from the state's workers comp laws unless theathlete has worked 20 percent or more of his/her career inCalifornia, or has worked for fewer than seven seasons anywhereelse.

Opponents of the bill are crying foul.

“Calling the California workers' compensation law a 'loophole'is a fallacy—anyone that has played in California and got hurt inCalifornia pays state taxes and is entitled to benefits here,” saysformer NFL player Mel Owens, a county attorney for NBO Law whorepresents at least 1,000 retired football players suing forworkers' compensation in the state.

He says workers comp costs caused by professional athletes are“one-tenth of one percent” of losses carried by the Californiasystem.

According to Rachel Hooper, a spokesperson for the NFL PlayersAssociation, professional athletes, including those who come fromout of state to play against a California team, will pay nearly$300 million in income taxes to the state this year.

“Workers' compensation for athletes in California was worked outthrough a collective bargaining agreement. [The bill] allows theiremployers to go back to the bargaining table and say 'bail us out'of $1 billion in liability, because they know the ramifications ofsustaining an injury in the NFL.

Those claims, which the NFL and workers' compensation insurerspay for, are then shifted onto the public through social security,disability and Medicare.”

The risk of death associated with neurodegenerative disorders isthree times higher among NFL players than the rest of thepopulation, says the National Institute for Occupational Safety andHealth (NIOSH).

Says Owens, “I played in the NFL, and what they say about theinjuries is true.”