“California’s workers’ compensation system, quite simply, is broken,” said Republican Gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon. “How else could you describe a system in which employers pay the highest premiums in the nation, and injured workers get the second lowest benefits?”
Simon recently spoke about the state of California’s workers’ comp market in an address before a women’s business forum in Long Beach.
Simon further alleged that his competitor, Governor Gray Davis (Democrat) “made worse an already broken workers’ compensation system,” adding, “Governor Davis had an historic opportunity to reform workers’ compensation, [but he] chose a different path. He twice vetoed a labor union backed workers’ comp bill which increased benefits without any reforms. But this year, desperate for union campaign contributions and get-out-the-vote workers, Davis signed virtually the same bill he’d blocked before.”
Simon was referring to AB 749, which was signed into law by Gov. Davis on Feb. 15, 2002. 749 will increase the annual cost of benefits paid to injured workers by as much as 17.8 percent or $3.5 billion when fully implemented in 2006. The benefits will be increased incrementally over the next four years, with the current maximum payout of $409 per week advancing to $840 per week in 2006.
However, Gov. Davis previously vetoed several other bills intended to aide the workers’ comp system in California consecutively over the past few years—SB 320, SB 996 and SB 71, actions that have stirred controversy within the insurance industry since 1999. Many speculate that the recent signage of 749 was done at the eve of Davis’ campaign for re-election in ploy to boost his image and gain contributions.
“We need to reform workers’ comp to ensure that employees who are truly injured on the job receive the benefits they deserve without devastating the businesses that employ them,” said Simon.
Simon Deputy press secretary Jeannine Campos told Insurance Journal, “If elected Governor, Bill Simon would reform the procedure for awarding permanent disability and establish a defined, consistent and objective treatment protocol. He would also bring business and labor leaders and collaborate with them to find solutions that protect both California’s businesses and workers.”
Topics California Workers' Compensation
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