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Workers' Compensation Reform
July 15, 2009
Chamber Opposes
National Workers' Compensation
Commission
The Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce OPPOSES H.R. 635 which
would establish a national commission to study and evaluate the
adequacy of state workers’ compensation laws and report back to
Congress its findings and recommendations. The performance of
state-based workers’ compensation systems is the responsibility
of the states and their respective legislatures and
stakeholders. We believe it is not the province of Congress to
interfere in the state administration of workers’ compensation.
We believe the establishment of a national commission will serve
as a vehicle to undermine state-based workers’ compensation
systems. The commission membership is clearly unbalanced and can
only be intended to reach a foregone conclusion that the
imposition of federal direction on all states’ workers’
compensation systems is needed.
The imposition of federal oversight and development of federal
mandates is inconsistent with the state workers’ compensation
system. The purpose of the national commission established by
H.R. 635 is to develop recommendations that would dramatically
impact state workers’ compensation laws, as well as the employer
funded state workers’ compensation systems. States’ workers’
compensation systems have continued to improve for decades based
on the unique economies, business environments, and traditions
of each state.
The state-based system provides the ability to experiment
creatively and borrow from experiences in other states without
the burden of a rigid, nationwide, one-size-fits-all federal
program that is slow to change and administratively cumbersome.
The design of a state workers’ compensation system, its
administration, legal precedents, funding, and fiscal
accountability is intricately linked to each state’s economy.
The imposition of federal requirements on the state-based system
would create unnecessary imbalances and unintended consequences
for a system that has been operating effectively for decades.
Our state, California, has effectively modernized its systems.
Based on improved research, states have employed a myriad of
innovative tools, including cooperative labor-management
committees, which led to reduced litigation as well as best
practices such as utilization review, the adoption of
evidenced-based medicine, improved access to high-quality
medical treatment, strengthened employee return-to-work efforts,
more effectively compensated injured workers, streamlined claims
adjudication, and enhanced efforts to detect and prosecute
fraud. The state workers’ compensation system is fundamentally
sound and a valued institution in our industrial economy.
There is no need for a new national study. Each state reviews
its own workers’ compensation laws and the application of the
laws to continuously improve the state’s system. The efficiency
and effectiveness of individual systems are examined by state
legislatures each year through legislative or regulatory
proposals. There is already an abundance of state specific data
and studies of state workers’ compensation laws providing ample
information on the issues identified by H.R. 635. The research
capacity of states and private research organizations has grown
dramatically over the last 30 years to respond to an array of
proposed programmatic and system modifications made at the state
level.
The cost of the study commission and staff is unnecessary.
During a time of strained federal and state budgets and the need
to concentrate efforts on economic recovery and the retention
and creation of millions of new jobs, Congress should focus on
growing the economy and its workforce rather than funding a
solution in search of a problem.
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