California legislators need to get to work to complete a
workers’ compensation reform package by the end of the month.
California legislators need to get to work to complete a workers’ compensation reform package by the end of the month.
Unless they do, an initiative to streamline the costly and complex system is almost certain to qualify for the November ballot. And if it does, it will probably get a huge push from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has showed that he can be as effective in selling his policies as his persona to California voters.
A ballot measure must remain a last resort. There are several significant reasons why the California Legislature – not voters – should be deciding how to reform a 90-year-old system to make it less costly to employers and more responsive to injured workers. Employers large and small complain that skyrocketing premiums have become a serious drag on the state’s economy.
Advantages of a legislative solution include:
– The reforms, and thus the savings to California businesses, could be realized much faster. State legislation could take effect this July; a ballot initiative would not become law until July 2005.
– Legislation could later be modified or even overhauled to address unintended consequences on workers or businesses. An initiative could be repealed only by the voters.
Schwarzenegger, who made workers’ compensation one of the central issues of the recall campaign, has laid out a comprehensive reform package. Most of the concepts in his package make sense. For example, the governor proposes to establish objective criteria for evaluating workplace injuries and defining impairment; create a medical review process to settle disputes; set standards to ensure that cumulative injuries are truly “work related”; and to generally redesign the system to put a higher priority on getting workers healed and back on the job.
Time is running out for the California Legislature to finish a job that is vital to creating and retaining jobs in this state.
