Wilson Opens Workers’ Comp Talks in Pacoima

In a hastily planned kickoff of a campaign to overhaul the state’s $12-billion workers’ compensation program, Gov. Pete Wilson is to meet today with San Fernando Valley business leaders to listen to their grievances and to outline his ideas for reform.

A Wilson aide said the meeting with Valley business leaders will be the first of several rallies aimed at lining up employer support in advance of a special legislative session next week on the issue.

The Republican governor has been battling the Democratic Legislature over the workers’ compensation issue. Wilson announced his reform proposals Thursday, a week after vetoing a package of Democratic bills that he dismissed as “fig-leaf reforms.” Wilson, whom Democrats accused of political maneuvering in advance of the November election, also on Thursday demanded that the Legislature enact his plan in a single day when it returns.

Wilson’s office contacted the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. late Wednesday afternoon to set up today’s forum at Precision Dynamics in Pacoima. Wilson aides and VICA officials said the company was chosen partly because President Walter W. Mosher Jr. has spoken openly of moving out of California to escape the burden of escalating workers’ compensation costs.

“We’re one of the companies that are seriously thinking of leaving the state,” Mosher said Thursday.

“There are a lot of more friendly climates” for employers whose workers’ compensation costs are spiraling upward, he said. Workers’ compensation is “a very large budget item for us.”

“We’ve been approached by 20 or 30 states . . . sometimes offering us land and facilities to get us interested in their location,” Mosher said.

One estimate showed that Mosher’s 300-employee disposable medical products firm, which logged sales last year of $22 million, could cut its workers’ compensation and health insurance costs by two-thirds--or $1 million--by relocating to Washington state. However, he added, the company is not yet aggressively looking for a new home.

“We’re more interested in staying in California and being part of the solution,” he said. “But if there is no solution, we have to remain competitive and make a profit” and may be forced to start seeking relief elsewhere.

At today’s meeting, which will include up to 40 VICA members and prospective members, Wilson is expected to be preaching to the converted. VICA’s workers’ compensation committee voted unanimously Thursday to support the governor’s proposals.

The plan, among other provisions, would require stress-injury claimants to demonstrate that a “sudden and extraordinary” work-related event is the chief cause of their injury--a stiffer standard than the one put forth in the Democratic proposals. Wilson’s plan would also sharply limit evaluations of injuries by forensic physicians.

“This is exactly what VICA wants,” said Carol Wieser, a Woodland Hills compensation claims administrator, co-chairwoman of the committee. “It’s a good package. There are a few little words we’d like amended . . . but at the same time this is the best thing that’s come out of Sacramento.”

Supporters of the Democratic bills have said the vetoed reforms would have saved the system more than $1 billion by reducing premiums and implementing several measures to combat fraud. Wilson has argued that many of the Democrats’ proposals would make only cosmetic changes.

But there is wide agreement on both sides that reform is needed.

Some Valley companies “are closing their doors right now,” because of the cost of the workers’ compensation program, Wieser said.

She said VICA, which represents 300 businesses from northern Los Angeles and eastern Ventura counties, will continue its high-profile campaign to reform a system that it believes is riddled with fraud and abuse. A delegation of VICA members will travel to Sacramento when the special session opens.

In August, the organization--which was critical of the recently vetoed Democratic proposals--sent letters to 17 local lawmakers threatening to name them in full-page newspaper ads if they failed to support “meaningful workers’ compensation reform.” Although no such ads have yet appeared, Wieser said VICA would indeed place them if no acceptable overhaul plan results from the upcoming special session.

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