Sacramento, CA – California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a comprehensive workers’ compensation reform package and permanent disability increase bill into law. SB 863 will provide injured workers with a needed benefit increase and will tackle several cost driving problems plaguing the system, but quick and appropriate implementation of the regulations called for in the bill are vital to realizing savings.
“Now that SB 863 has been signed into law we are basically at half time, the second half of the game will be implementation of the regulations,” said Mark Sektnan, ACIC president. “We may be ahead going into the locker room at the half but the game can change quickly and in the wrong direction if the regulatory process does not garner the necessary balances and controls expected from this bill. The Brown Administration understands a timely and effective implementation of the regulations must be a top priority.”
“We congratulate Gov. Brown and legislators for grappling with the many complicated issues facing California’s workers’ compensation system and we look forward to working with the Administration, employers, labor and other stakeholders on the implementation of SB 863,” said Sektnan. “California’s workers’ compensation system has long been known as the most complicated and costly system in the country. With or without reform, costs pressures continue in the system. We must use this “second half” in the regulatory process to close loopholes and shut down the entrepreneurial element that works around boundaries and causes new systemic cost drivers. SB 863 may not decrease employer costs, however this important bill should slow the cost increases. The success of SB 863 is dependent on effective regulatory implementation and appropriate judicial interpretation.”
Source: ACIC