Genius: California Considering Giving Free, Taxpayer-Funded Life Insurance to All State Employees... and Retirees!

What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

Here's how [California's Assembly Bill 2451] would work:

Firefighter Jones or police Officer Smith retires in 2012 at age 53. Twenty-five years later, Smith or Jones die of a heart attack. Although there is a presumption in current law that heart ailments in firefighters and cops are job-related, there had been no evidence of a heart condition for either retiree before the fatal attack. Neither Jones nor Smith filed workers' compensation claims. Neither retired on disability. Their deaths occurred well beyond the 4 1/2-years-after-injury statute of limitations that governs job-related death benefit eligibility today.

Nonetheless, under this bill their survivors could claim a death benefit worth a quarter of a million dollars at minimum.

This benefit would cover not just current firefighters, police officers, prison guards and other public safety workers but retirees as well. So, on the day AB 2451 becomes law, when any ex-firefighter dies of a heart attack at age 80 or cancer at age 90, his widow or children, or other relatives -- the list of eligible survivors is extensive -- becomes eligible for a benefit typically valued at between $250,000 and $300,000...

...This benefit would cover not just current firefighters, police officers, prison guards and other public safety workers but retirees as well. So, on the day AB 2451 becomes law, when any ex-firefighter dies of a heart attack at age 80 or cancer at age 90, his widow or children, or other relatives -- the list of eligible survivors is extensive -- becomes eligible for a benefit typically valued at between $250,000 and $300,000.

It's almost as if California's Democrat leaders are all racing each other to see who can bankrupt the state first.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com/Money.