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| | Jerry Brown Headed South Yesterday Hoping SB 863 Won't Do The Same. He Signs Bill In San Diego At A Small Family Owned Printing Company.
By Lonce LaMon - September 19, 2012
Yesterday, Jerry Brown, the Governor of California, signed SB 863, which was no surprise to anyone. After all, he engineered it, promoted it, touted it and literally put all of his political clout into it.
It was his labor-of-love creation to reform the workers’ compensation system in California once again, only 8 years after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did his work on workers’ comp with SB 899 in 2004.
Jerry Brown actually signed the bill yesterday in San Diego, California, at a small business called Diego and Son Printing in a sector of the city called Barrio Logan at 2104 National Avenue, San Diego 92113.
Rebecca Aguilera-Gardiner, the vice president and co-owner of the printing company, told this writer this morning that the signing was a fabulous event where they set up the signing ceremony right in the middle of their press room.
They moved all the paper out, made a large accessible area, and set up about 50 chairs. However, about a hundred people showed up so it was also standing room only.
“The secret service was even here with the dog sniffers. The space looked fantastic with the presses in the background,” Rebecca said.
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Diego and Son Printing is an old-fashioned family owned business that still does off-set printing. But they also have the latest technology in digital presses to run the smaller jobs that use no plates. These have been great during the Recession as Diego and Son has not gotten as many large jobs due to businesses and individuals doing less printing and running smaller jobs in the faltering economy.
They have skilled workers who run the machines. Their workers’ comp claims consist of mostly slips and falls and fingers caught in the presses. But the owners, Rebecca and her brother Nicholas, have watched their workers’ comp rates go up dramatically.
“They’ve been going up,” Rebecca told this writer over the phone. “You know it’s going to go up and you never know how much. In the past couple of years it’s gone up substantially. Especially when things were very difficult for 2009, and they were still going up. As
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"You know it's going to go up (the workers' comp cost) and you never know how much. In the past couple of years it's gone up substantially."
Rebecca Aguilera-Gardiner, co-owner, Diego and Son Printing, San Diego, California
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far as I know, this (SB 863) is going to stop the increases for small businesses. As we never know (how much the rates are going to go up)… and a 12% increase takes a big chunk.”
What she doesn’t know is that it’s now predicted that rates will still go up for employers, only the increase most likely will be around 7% rather than the previous 12% recommended by the WCIRB for January of 2013. Of course, this is an increase that many employers cannot handle and will not be able to handle.
More and more, as the bill is read and interpreted, it’s clear it was definitely a bi-partisan compromise. Both sides, labor and employers, are going to be a little better off than the worst case scenario that was predicted for next year as jobs and growth barely scratch their way out of the Recession. SB 863 is looking like, well, it’s going to do something, but it’s not going to set the world on fire or be anything close to a powerful catalyst for jobs’ creation in California.
Jerry Brown appeared to choose the Diego and Son Printing company in San Diego in his political effort to champion small businesses in California. Small businesses not only are reeling with the workers’ comp costs but also with the challenges for their injured workers’ in navigating the system.
“I remember it was very hard for him (her injured employee) to start getting workers’ compensation… It took a while to make sure which doctor he can see… where he can go… which hospital he can go to and all that,” Rebecca Aguilera-Gardiner explained.
Not only does Diego and Son Printing do printing, but they make books. “We have a full bindery, so we can do books all in-house. Anything stitched. Pretty much anything on paper we can do,” Rebecca added.
Finally, Rebecca Aguilera-Gardiner admitted in her hope for lower workers’ comp premiums, “I get pretty intimate with the workers’ compensation expenses, and I go, 'Where’s the money going?'”
Alas, SB 863 is signed, and Rebecca and her brother Nicholas proudly got to host Jerry Brown for the signing. They love their family business and they are hopeful.
Very hopeful.
lonce@adjuster.com
Copyright © Lonce LaMon and adjustercom. All rights reserved.
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