Workers comp reform being pushed through gut and amend process

by Brian Leubitz

For a different perspective: See this diary from the Cal Labor Fed about why this bill, SB863, should be passed. SB863 is likely an improvement from the existing process, it’s hard to go anywhere but up from the Schwarzenegger system, after all. But one can’t help but think that it would have benefited from a little more transparency.

Workers compensation is a topic that comes up every few years, as insurance companies start ratcheting up rates, usually out of proportion to their expenses. This gets the business community up in arms, and you know what follows next.  This happened with Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2004, and what we got was a hodgepodge which drastically limited compensation to some severely injured workers.

Now, this is not to say that workers’ comp doesn’t need to be reviewed. It does. California, it has been argued, has expenses that are out of line with other states. Meanwhile, benefits provided to workers hardly provide a subsistence living. Workers on temporary disability average between $230 and $270/week, according to this excellent article by workers’ comp attorney Bob Morris. And with a hard cap of 24 months on that temporary disability, workers can be left in a difficult situation. There are a lot of moving parts, but somehow, a grand reform compromise is supposedly being negotiated out of view of the public, and even many stakeholders in the new process.

As of 08/26/2012, five days before the end of the legislative session, the bill is not available for comment to the public, or even to attorneys who do nothing but represent injured workers.

The injured workers’ organization, Voters Injured at Work, and the California Applicants Attorney Association, who represent injured workers, were not involved in the creation of this bill. Apparently, neither is considered a “stakeholder.” The people who were involved do know of our concerns but do not seem to care.

Morris points out that perhaps term limits block the creation of legislative “experts” on complex issues like workers comp. And since this was last discussed in 2004, few legislators were around at the time. That being said, the last minute gut and amend is a process that rarely works in the greater interest of the public.

On a subject as important as workers comp, shoving it to the last minute is risky and runs contrary to the interests of both working Californians and the businesses that pay the premiums. This is a subject that deserves the full attention of the California Legislature, not some last minute back room negotiations between a few leaders.

Last week we saw the same effort with CEQA, a bill that also needs legislative review. But also like CEQA, these are important changes that should be discussed in a transparent and open matter.