Fiscal Note
BILL # SB 1157 TITLE: workers' compensation; death benefits;
remarriage
SPONSOR: Gowan STATUS: As Introduced
PREPARED BY: Ethan Scheider
Description
The bill would allow the surviving spouse of an employee that suffers a fatal occupational injury to continue to receive
two-thirds of the deceased employee's average monthly wage if the surviving spouse remarries. The bill further allows
the surviving spouse of a deceased "first responder" (law enforcement officer, firefighter, or paramedic), including a
volunteer first responder, who has remarried to receive this benefit retroactive from and after December 31, 2023.
Estimated Impact
We assume that the number of non-public safety government employee occupational deaths that occur annually are
negligible. As such, we estimate the fiscal impact to be minimal.
PSPRS already allows the spouses of deceased members to remarry without loss of benefits. As a result, we do not think
that the bill would affect public safety employees.
Analysis
A.R.S. § 23-1046 states that, in the case of a workplace injury resulting in death, public employees in the state are entitled
to various death benefits. Included in these death benefits are ongoing salary payments to the surviving spouse of a
deceased employee in the amount of two-thirds of the deceased employee's average monthly wage. The law further
states that these payments are to be made to the surviving spouse until death or remarriage, with the surviving spouse
receiving 2 years' worth of salary payments upon remarriage and no future payments. The bill would modify the statute
to allow the surviving spouse to continue to receive ongoing salary payments upon remarriage.
A.R.S. § 38-846 states that the surviving spouses of a public safety employee that is killed or suffered a fatal injury in the
line of duty would be entitled to up to 100% of the decedent's average monthly benefit compensation as calculated by
the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS). This PSPRS death benefit is available to eligible surviving spouses
who have remarried. Given this language, we assume that SB 1157 would not affect public safety employees.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, there were a total of 20 state and
local government occupational deaths during the 2021-2023 period in Arizona. Of this number, 2 of the deceased were
state employees and 18 were local government employees, yielding an average of 6.66 state and local government deaths
per year for this period. While the BLS data includes data from all Arizona government occupations, the data does not
separate these deaths by occupation.
Of these roughly 7 government employee occupational deaths per year, we assume that most, if not all, would be public
safety personnel. We expect the number of occupational deaths of non-public safety government employees to be
negligible, therefore we estimate that the fiscal impact of the bill is minimal.
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Local Government Impact
The bill would have a minimal impact on local governments, as we assume that very few non-public safety local
government employees die from occupational injuries each year.
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