The Price of Doing Business in California

Re “Hahn, Other Officials Call for Fixes in Workers’ Comp Laws,” June 4: I appreciate that The Times has been focusing on the California Workers’ Compensation Insurance system. Our company has been in business for 38 years in Los Angeles and employs more than 90 people. We have just received our new premium notice. On July 1 we will incur a 40% increase in annual premiums, from $250,000 to $400,000. This translates to about 25 cents added to every dollar of labor we pay to manufacture our products, in a company that has an excellent safety record with no major claims.

A May 25 article told about businesses operating in California for many years that finally gave up and moved their operations to Nevada, owing to the substantial savings they realized. They made that decision to remain competitive with out-of-state companies that have substantially less to pay for their state insurance programs.

We are invested in staying in Los Angeles and don’t have that option. When you add the adverse effect to the overall economies of Los Angeles and California (every dollar spent on these premiums could otherwise be spent on research and development and the hiring of additional employees), the negative effect is not difficult to project.

Hopefully, elected officials in California, both Democrat and Republican, will work together to keep this problem at the very top of their agendas.

Martin Steele

Los Angeles