Special Session for a Special Problem : Politics aside, workers’ comp reform is needed

Dissatisfied with the inadequate workers’ compensation reform bills on his desk, Gov. Pete Wilson has called the Legislature to a special session next month to overhaul the costly and troubled system that provides for injured workers.

If ever there was an issue in need of bipartisan cooperation, it is workers’ compensation. There’s wide agreement among business, labor and workers on the need to revamp California’s system, which is the nation’s third most costly for employees but 35th in benefits paid to injured workers.

A special session could focus attention on the complexity and gravity of the problem. Whether any solution can come from such a session rests on whether the governor and Legislature will genuinely work together after the bruising fight over the budget. That means abandoning the ugly and divisive finger-pointing that characterized the budget battle.

Wilson said Friday he would veto a package of three Democratic-sponsored workers’ compensation bills because they were “fake reform.”

The bills were indeed far from perfect, but despite the governor’s repeated call for reform of workers’ comp, he never sent a bill of his own liking to the Legislature, nor did he send a negotiator to conference committee discussions on workers’ comp during the last days of the regular session.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown has branded Wilson’s scheduling of a special session a political ploy. The special session begins in October, one month before all 80 Assembly seats and half of the 40 Senate seats are up for election, on Nov. 3.

Wilson’s timing was clearly political, judging by his own words. The governor warned, “If they won’t change the law in October, then in November we must change the lawmakers.”

Turning down the decibels on the shrill, partisan politics would help set a more appropriate tone--if the governor and Legislature are serious.

There’s bipartisan agreement on reforming the minimum rate law; limiting medical evaluations, stress claims and vocational rehabilitation costs, and increasing benefits for injured workers.

Cooperation falls apart on how much benefits should raise, and when; on narrowing stress standards, and on restructuring vocational rehabilitation.

In the closing days of the prolonged legislative session, concerted efforts were made to bridge the differences between the Democratic and Republic measures. The special session could get bogged down in partisan bickering. That would hurt any chance for substantive reform. And the state and its people would be the big losers.

The special session is worth holding, but there’s no point if it doesn’t produce results. And results are what Californians want--and the state desperately needs.