(a) Any civil or administrative penalty assessed pursuant to this chapter against a public police or city, county, or special district fire department or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection shall be deposited into the Workers’ Compensation Administration Revolving Fund established pursuant to Section 62.5.
(b) Any public police or city, county, or special district fire department or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection may apply for a refund of any civil or administrative penalty assessed pursuant to this chapter, with interest, if all conditions previously cited have been abated, the department has abated any other outstanding citation, and the department has not been cited by the division for a serious violation within two years of the date of the original violation. Funds received as a result of a penalty, for which a refund is not applied for within two years and six months of the time of the original violation, shall be expended in accordance with Section 78 as follows:
(1) Funds received as a result of a civil or administrative penalty imposed on a city, county, or special district fire department or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection shall be allocated to the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Program for the purpose of establishing and maintaining effective occupational injury and illness prevention programs.
(2) Funds received as a result of a civil or administrative penalty imposed on a police department shall be allocated to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, or any succeeding agency, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining effective occupational injury and illness prevention programs.
(c) This section does not apply to that portion of any civil or administrative penalty that is distributed directly to an aggrieved employee or employees pursuant to the provisions of Section 2699.
(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 141, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2006.)