While Governor Vacations, Staffers Try To Write Work Comp Bill
By Steve Lawrence, Associated Press Writer - April 6, 2004SACRAMENTO (AP) Staff workers for the California governor and Legislature hope to hash out a deal curbing workers' compensation costs by the end of the week.
The negotiations between a small group of aides went on Monday while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vacationed in Hawaii and the Legislature was in recess.
Schwarzenegger's deputy press secretary, Vince Sollitto, said the two sides were working on "general concepts and principles'' the legislative counsel's office could turn into a bill.
"There are principles of reform that the governor believes all sides are close to agreement on,'' said Sollitto. "The next step is to turn those principles into legislative language and then circulate that for review and further, hopefully, final discussion.''
Meanwhile, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi sued the State Compensation Insurance Fund in state court in San Francisco on Monday for the right to review the government-run carrier's finances to make sure any savings from workers' compensation reforms are being passed on to employers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Garamendi asked the court to order the fund to give him access to all records and employees so he can report to the Legislature on its financial condition.
State Fund President Dianne C. Oki acknowledged that Garamendi had a right to "report our financial condition to the Legislature.'' But she doesn't want the fund to pay for "another, repetitive review'' by outside consultants.
The Republican governor and the Legislature's top leaders have been negotiating for weeks in an effort to reach a compromise on how to ease the skyrocketing cost of treating work-related injuries.
The goal is to have that legislation ready for review by the end of the week, Sollitto said.
Participants say they are close to an agreement but still face some sticking points. Two sources close to the talks say one of the remaining disagreements is over how to ensure that any savings generated by the legislation is passed on to employers in the form of lower workers' compensation insurance rates.
Some Democrats are pressing for regulation of those rates along the lines of the state's voter-imposed controls on auto and homeowner's insurance. Republicans contend that increased competition among insurers brought on by lower costs will result in lower rates.
The chairman of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, proposed a plan Monday under which a commission made up of representatives of the insurance commissioner, attorney general and governor would regulate rates.
He said that using a three-member panel instead of just the commissioner to rule on insurers' rate proposals would give the process a "broader perspective'' and help ensure that its decisions were actuarially sound.
Schwarzenegger has threatened to go to the ballot with an initiative if a deal isn't reached soon.
The governor and his business-group allies are more than a third of the way toward collecting the 1 million signatures they want to ensure that the proposal will qualify, said spokeswoman Beth Miller.
The measure needs valid signatures from at least 598,105 registered voters. Those signatures should be turned in by April 16 if the measure's supporters want to be sure there is enough time to verify signatures before the June 24 deadline to certify November ballot measures, election officials say.
Miller said the initiative's supporters look at April 16 as a "firm deadline,'' although she also said there is "a question of whether there is a couple of days leeway.''
"We are prepared to file on the 16th,'' she said. "Any other scenarios will be evaluated at that time.''
State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi had been saying that a workers' comp deal had to be in place by March 31 to affect midyear changes in workers' comp insurance rates. But his office said Monday there was "limited flexibility'' to extend that deadline.
Garamendi prepares so-called "pure premium'' advisory rates for workers' comp insurers.
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