Private-Sector Presumption Will Test Jerry Brown's Roots

By Greg Jones, Western Bureau ChiefEmployer groups, who are already apprehensive about what Gov. Jerry Brown will do with workers' compensation legislation, are worried that a union-backed bill, which would create a rebuttable presumption of compensability for hospital workers who contract diseases caused by blood-borne pathogens, creates a dangerous precedent of expanding presumptions to cover private-sector workers.While former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was not shy about vetoing workers' compensation legislation opposed by business, no one knows where his Democratic successor stands...