WCAB

On April 19, 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill No. 899 (2003-2004 Reg. Sess.), a package of reforms to the workers’ compensation laws. (Stats. 2004, ch. 34.) (Bill No. 899.) The legislation took effect immediately as urgency legislation. (Stats. 2004, ch. 34, § 49.) Bill No. 899 changed, among other things, the law with regard to apportionment of permanent disability. (Stats. 2004, ch. 34, §§ 33 [repealed Lab. Code, § 4663 (former § 4663)], 34 [added new Lab. Code, § 4663 (§ 4663)], 35 [added Lab. Code, § 4664 (§ 4664)], 37 [repealed Lab. Code, § 4750], 38 [repealed Lab. Code, § 4750.5].)

In this case we consider whether the new laws enacted by Bill No. 899 requiring apportionment based on causation (§§ 4663, 4664) apply to a workers’ compensation case submitted to a workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) for decision prior to the April 19, 2004 effective date of Bill No. 899, but on which an award and findings were not issued until April 23, 2004, four days after the effective date of Bill No. 899. We conclude the new laws, sections 4663 and 4664, should have been applied and annul the decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) finding…