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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (485529)	11/3/2003 12:09:17 AM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Sorry, workmen's comp is no where near fixed. Link a story......if you can....but I think we have another bald faced lie Sunday, November 2, 2003 Workers' comp: seize the day The fact that Senate Leader John Burton, perhaps as old-line a liberal Democrat as there is in Sacramento, is saying publicly he's ready to take a fresh look at reforming the workers' compensation system is a strong indication that the recall really did change certain assumptions in the state capital. Gov.-elect Schwarzenegger should move quickly on this issue to get some real reform. The incoming governor obviously will have a window of opportunity, a period of at least a few months in which the players are trying to sort out where the real power lies. Thus he will have more effective power and influence even than a new governor elected in a normal election. The workers' comp bills passed during the last-minute flurry of the legislative session were a Band-Aid on a system that needs major surgery. The Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau will meet with Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi tomorrow in San Francisco. Mr. Garamendi is expected to recommend that in light of the changes in the new legislation a rollback in workers' comp premiums of 4 percent or more is justified for next year. That's something. But since thousands of businesses experienced double-digit increases in their premiums last year, it's not enough. The California Chamber of Commerce recommends tightening permanent disability eligibility ratings (permanent disability accounts for about 80 percent of the system's total costs to businesses) and having them verified by objective medical findings. It also wants the employers' right to choose a medical provider extended, a tightening of the definition of "cure and relieve," and extensive reform of administrative procedures that invite excessive litigation costs for minor paperwork mistakes. Republican state Sen. Charles Poochigian of Fresno, who served on the joint conference committee on workers' comp reform earlier this year, has some additional proposals. He wants a requirement that injuries be certified as predominantly work-related, the elimination of duplicative benefits for previously compensated injuries, utilization schedules to ensure uniform treatment for similar injuries, and stronger penalties against fraud, including vigorous prosecution. These are all good ideas. Trying to implement them will offer an early test of the new governor's leadership in the nitty-gritty of legislative wheeling and dealing. Sen. Burton is a veteran of the legislative wars who will want credit for anything good and seek to deflect blame to the governor. The governor should seize this opportunity to enact comprehensive reform and take significant steps toward improving California's still lagging business climate.