Jeremy Merz, vice president of state government relations for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and a mainstay in California comp policy discussions, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease on Tuesday. He was 42.

Jeremy Merz

Merz was a mainstay at California workers’ compensation events, speaking at annual conferences and conventions and testifying on pending legislation and regulations.

The American Insurance Association in 2017 named him vice president of state affairs for the western region. He held the same position after the AIA and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America merged in 2019 to create the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

Merz moved to APCIA from the California Chamber of Commerce, which he joined at the end of 2011 as a workers’ compensation policy advocate. Although not part of the team that drafted SB 863, he was instrumental in negotiations that led to CalChamber supporting the 2012 reforms.

Before lobbying for CalChamber, Merz represented defendants in state and federal courts on workers’ compensation, employment law and business litigation as an attorney at Downey Brand in Sacramento.

Before that, he was a workers’ compensation claims case manager for Liberty Mutual.

The Sacramento Bee and CalChamber both said Merz died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells that control muscles throughout the body. ALS became known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the legendary baseball player who was diagnosed with the condition in 1939 and died from it in 1941.

CalChamber said Merz was diagnosed in March 2022, a month after learning he and his wife were going to be the parents of twins.

He is survived by his wife and their three children.

The Sacramento Bee reports that funeral services are pending.