Assemblyman Henry T. Perea's (D-Fresno) bill AB1309, which has passed state legislature and is expected to hit the governor's desk later this month, will exempt employees outside of California and their employers from the state's workers comp laws unless the athlete has worked 20 percent or more of his/her career in California, or has worked for fewer than seven seasons anywhere else.

Opponents of the bill are crying foul.

“Calling the California workers' compensation law a 'loophole' is a fallacy—anyone that has played in California and got hurt in California pays state taxes and is entitled to benefits here,” says former NFL player Mel Owens, a county attorney for NBO Law who represents at least 1,000 retired football players suing for workers' compensation in the state.

He says workers comp costs caused by professional athletes are “one-tenth of one percent” of losses carried by the California system.

According to Rachel Hooper, a spokesperson for the NFL Players Association, professional athletes, including those who come from out of state to play against a California team, will pay nearly $300 million in income taxes to the state this year.

“Workers' compensation for athletes in California was worked out through a collective bargaining agreement. [The bill] allows their employers to go back to the bargaining table and say 'bail us out' of $1 billion in liability, because they know the ramifications of sustaining an injury in the NFL.

Those claims, which the NFL and workers' compensation insurers pay for, are then shifted onto the public through social security, disability and Medicare.”

The risk of death associated with neurodegenerative disorders is three times higher among NFL players than the rest of the population, says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Says Owens, “I played in the NFL, and what they say about the injuries is true.”