Well, it’s that time of year again. The slowdown in the legislative process brought about by the anxious anticipation of the “May revise,” where budget news goes from bad to worse, leads to the inevitable wild speculation about what is going to happen to permanent disability benefits.
Dutifully, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata has sent his annual effort to raise permanent disability levels—this year, Senate Bill 1717—to the floor, where it garners no Republican votes and united opposition from a list of business interests so long that the letterhead consumes virtually an entire page. The Governor’s Office continues to hold out the possibility that more money will get into the hands of injured workers through adjustments to the permanent disability rating schedule (PDRS), an idea that now has a gestation period approaching elephantine duration.
Of course, every day is Christmas at the Capitol, so it is also natural to assume that any decision does not rise and fall on its merits but rather gets to the governor’s desk only if there can be appended to it sufficient other items of interest that all key stakeholders sign off. In the case of PD, that may include confirmation of Carrie Nevans as administrative director, or John Duncan as director of industrial relations, or easing of the onerous meal and rest requirements imposed during the Reign of Terror earlier this decade, or easing overtime requirements, or reinvigorating AB X1 1 (Nuñ), the comprehensive health care reform measure still alive (barely) in the Senate, or being part of a larger dynamic trying to close the budget deficit and garner the requisite two-thirds vote to seal the deal, or maybe it is tied to troop withdrawals in Iraq, peace in the Middle East, and getting the Bush Administration to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Maybe maybe maybe, blah blah blah.
Or maybe not. In this chess match, both sides have made only their opening move – and it was with pawns. News of whatever discussions are or are not happening on this issue is held close to the vest. Given the gross speculation and lack of actionable intelligence, it may well be that workers’ comp remains far down the list of priorities for all concerned, although it is a bit odd that Senator Perata has amended what is essentially a spot bill twice in his own house.
Efforts at addressing other important issues in workers’ comp are on hold, except efforts to make State Compensation Insurance Fund transparent so that it can maintain its ill-defined mission, but with more exempt senior managers. Macro issues such as return to work languish in task forces and stakeholder meetings while micro issues such as reining in photocopy fees and mandating more rigorous lien documentation are still off the radar.
In fairness, the ever-growing deficit, the distasteful prospect of raising taxes (or is that fees?) and acknowledging that 2009 could be even worse when the effect of the real estate price drop works its way down to the bottom line of our property tax-dependent local governments are indeed the most pressing issues of the day. Inability to deliver on health care or water reform casts a long shadow over this Legislature and this governor. If permanent disability changes are to be done this year, it will only be in the context of the greater, more legacy-defining issues.
But then again, we haven’t seen the next move, have we?