State Compensation Insurance Fund (State Fund) is a public enterprise fund established through legislation enacted in 1913 to provide an available market for workers' compensation insurance to employers located in California. State Fund is governed by a board of directors with authority comparable to that of the governing body of a private insurance carrier.

State Fund's purpose is to provide fairly priced workers' compensation insurance, make the workplace safe, and restore injured workers. State Fund is self-supported with revenues from premiums on policies written and from investment income. It does not receive any financial support from the state, and the state is not liable for any obligations of State Fund. Almost all of State Fund's employees are civil servants.

Separate from its insurance business, State Fund has been engaged by the California Department of Human Resources to provide workers' compensation claims administration services for legally uninsured departments, agencies, boards, commissions, or other subdivisions of state government under a Master Agreement. Under this agreement, the state provides a deposit out of which State Fund pays compensation benefits to injured workers and medical benefits to health providers, and is reimbursed by state agencies for amounts paid plus service fees equal to the costs of these services.