republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-623.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Workers' compensation: benefits."
description: "Existing law generally requires an employer to compensate, without regard to negligence, an employee for an injury sustained by the employee if the injury arose out of, and in the course of, employment, as specified. Existing law also establishes the Uninsured Employers Fund and the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, both continuously appropriated funds. In the event that an employer fails to pay compensation as required, then the employee may apply to be paid by the Director of Industrial Relations from the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. In the event that a permanently, partially disabled employee receives a later, compensable injury resulting in additional permanent disability, then that employee shall receive compensation from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 623"
citation: "California SB 623 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Workers' compensation: benefits."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lara"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-27"
last_action: "2015-09-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/488fd35d-6c73-42db-9853-ce2b4f878362"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB623"
source_hash: "7d4915be9f93b141a80df7025c66eec8f3ef6a2a28acc8613d2572076b316fd9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 623 (20152016) — Workers' compensation: benefits.

Existing law generally requires an employer to compensate, without regard to negligence, an employee for an injury sustained by the employee if the injury arose out of, and in the course of, employment, as specified. Existing law also establishes the Uninsured Employers Fund and the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, both continuously appropriated funds. In the event that an employer fails to pay compensation as required, then the employee may apply to be paid by the Director of Industrial Relations from the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. In the event that a permanently, partially disabled employee receives a later, compensable injury resulting in additional permanent disability, then that employee shall receive compensation from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/27/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB623&version=20150SB62399INT)
2. **04/14/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB623&version=20150SB62398AMD)
3. **09/09/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB623&version=20150SB62396CHP)
4. **SB623** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB623)
5. **08/27/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB623&version=20150SB62397ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **34–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **11–3** (pass) · lower
- SB 623 Lara Senate Third Reading By GONZALEZ — **64–12** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lara — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2015-02-27** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2015-03-02** From printer. May be acted upon on or after April 1.
- **2015-03-02** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2015-03-12** Referred to Com. on L. & I.R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-27** Set for hearing April 8.
- **2015-04-13** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 1702.) (April 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-04-14** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-17** Set for hearing April 27.
- **2015-04-27** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2015-04-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 1. Page 841.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-30** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-18** Referred to Com. on INS. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 3.) (July 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-27** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 64. Noes 12. Page 2622.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-27** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2015-08-28** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:45 p.m.
- **2015-09-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-09-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 290, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/488fd35d-6c73-42db-9853-ce2b4f878362`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).