Employers, particularly municipalities, hope to stop what they say is costly workers’ comp legislation before it gets to the governor’s desk. One bill that is particularly worrisome is AB 375, authored by Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland), which would require presumptions for nurses. Early estimates peg potential costs in the millions of dollars, a concern for city …
Is there any solution in sight to the problems with the lack of an update to the Permanent Disability Rating Schedule (PDRS)? Not likely, according to Sacramento insiders, who say the stage is set for even broader action following the November election and change in administration. Most industry players and critics alike blame the Schwarzenegger …
A prominent health care union and applicant attorneys are behind a renewed push to extend presumptions to more private-sector settings. They want to redefine injuries for thousands of nurses and direct-care hospital workers who contract certain illnesses or report a neck or back condition. The move is being touted in part as a gender parity …
Workers’ comp legislation sponsored by purveyors of presumptions and permanent-disability boosters is being left on the cutting-room floor, thanks to a California budget crisis that has even Democrats unwilling to advance pet causes. The price tags attached to some of this legislation made local governments—already stretched to the limit—very nervous about financial implications for their …
Legislation expanding workers’ comp presumptions for hospital employees is causing heartburn for counties already grappling with budget problems and facility closures. The broad language in AB 664, authored by Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland), concerns county executives, some of whom see millions of dollars in exposure. It’s a hidden tax cost that will be paid by taxpayers, …
With the zeal of missionaries looking for converts, approximately 70 employers fanned out across the Capitol last week on a mission to preserve California’s workers’ comp reforms. Called together by the California Coalition on Workers’ Compensation (CCWC), the California Chamber of Commerce and others on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the passage of …
ANAHEIM — “The planned regulatory increase in permanent disability [benefits] will not happen in July,” said Tim East, director of risk management for The Walt Disney Company, speaking to a group of self-insured employers last week at the California Self-Insurers Association’s 82nd annual meeting and educational conference. “Too much water has passed under the bridge. …
California legislators have wasted no time churning out workers’ comp legislation, introducing no fewer than 26 bills before the deadline. Legislators have introduced two more presumption bills, which will be costly to the state’s taxpayers, before the deadline. Assemblyman Joe Coto (D-San Jose) introduced a bill expanding the cancer presumption for firefighters in January (see …