Wilson to Name Task Force on Workers’ Comp

Gov. Pete Wilson, stepping up his campaign for workers’ compensation reform, will set up a special task force to draft a comprehensive plan for overhauling the state’s troubled system, a key government source said Monday.

The task force, which could be officially announced as soon as today, will be modeled after a panel that revamped Oregon’s workers’ compensation system three years ago. It is expected to have at least 14 members, split evenly between representatives of employers and labor.

Like the Oregon panel, Wilson’s task force would exclude doctors, lawyers and officials of insurance companies and other interest groups that have received much of the blame for the high costs of the California system.

Business groups claim that California’s inefficient system has played a major role in the loss of thousands of jobs in the state over the last 2 1/2 years. Worker advocates, on the other hand, have faulted the system for its low benefits for injured employees.

Industry leaders often cite Oregon’s reforms as a blueprint for how California and other states could overhaul their programs. Oregon employers’ insurance rates have fallen 30% over three years, workplace injuries occur less often and, by some measures, payments to seriously hurt employees have risen.

Some labor groups, however, criticize Oregon’s reforms as Draconian and say they prevent needy workers from receiving benefits.

Efforts to reform California’s system collapsed in the Legislature last year. State Assembly and Senate committees have renewed efforts to draft reforms this year. It is not clear what impact Wilson’s task force will have on the work of those committees.