Congress to Consider Federal Workers’ Comp. Legislation (SIIA)
April 23, 2009 -- SIIA has been monitoring a bill introduced by Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) that could have far-ranging consequences to the workers’ compensation marketplace. Rep. Baca’s bill, H.R. 635, would establish a national commission to study and evaluate the adequacy of state workers’ compensation laws and report back to Congress its findings and recommendations.
At first glance the bill appears pretty innocuous, but there is increasing concern given the current political environment that the establishment of this commission is primarily aimed at undermining state-based workers’ compensation systems and serve as the first step toward federalization.
Given the implications of this development and the fact that this bill appears to be heading to the House floor within the next couple of months, we are asking that you lend your voice to the debate. Please reach out to your members of Congress and let them know that you oppose H.R. 635. You can find your Congressional representatives contact information by plugging in your address here: http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb. You can use the following talking points as a guide:
Federal oversight and mandates are inconsistent with the state workers’ compensation system. Federal requirements on the state-based system would create unnecessary imbalances and unintended consequences for a system that has been operating effectively for decades.
The state-based system provides the ability to experiment creatively and borrow from experiences in other states without the burden of a rigid, nationwide, one-size-fits-all federal program that is slow to change and administratively cumbersome.
The design of a state workers’ compensation system, its administration, legal precedents, funding and fiscal accountability is intricately linked to each state’s economy.
Based on improved research, states have employed a myriad of innovative tools, including cooperative labor-management committees leading to reduced litigation as well as best practices such as utilization review, the adoption of evidenced-based medicine, improved access to high-quality medical treatment, strengthened employee return to work efforts, more effectively compensated injured workers, streamlined claims adjudication, and enhanced efforts to detect and prosecute fraud.
There is no need for a new national study. The efficiency and effectiveness of individual systems are examined by state legislatures each year through legislative or regulatory proposals.
There is already an abundance of state specific data and studies of state workers’ compensation laws providing ample information on the issues identified by H.R. 635. In addition, the research capacity of states and private research organizations has grown dramatically over the last 30 years to respond to an array of proposed programmatic and system modifications made at the state level.
The cost of the study commission and staff is unnecessary, especially during a time of strained federal and state budgets.
We have also worked with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to develop a sample letter that can be tailored to your business and sent to your Representatives. This letter can be accessed on-line through the workers’ compensation section of the SIIA web site at www.siia.org. To request a copy of the legislation, please contact Gretchen Grote in SIIA’s Washington, DC office at 202/463-2600, or via e-mail at ggrote@siia.org.
