Previously, I posted on a few would-be laws that were headed for the Governor’s desk.  Your humble blogger had expressed guarded hope that bills such as AB 947 and AB 889 would meet a brutal and gruesome death on the Governor’s desk, while AB 378, which would rein in compound drug abuse, would become law.

Well – the Governor is done signing (and not signing) bills, and the results are in!

It looks like AB 947, which would have more than doubled the allowable period for temporary disability suffered Governor Brown’s veto, while AB 378 was signed into law.

As for AB 889, it is still in committee and has not received the Governor’s treatment (yet).

Several other workers’ compensation bills were signed and vetoed, and over the next couple of weeks, I hope to blog on them as well.

But, my dear readers, be aware, that lien claimants should tremble and compound-drug peddlers doctors should tighten their belts: Grinberg, armed with the now-signed AB378, is coming after your liens!

Although your humble author is an admitted cynic, as a compensable consequence of  California Workers’ Compensation Defense practice, he is always happy to report a victory for employers (read: California’s survival).

Assembly Bill 375, introduced by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D – 14th District), was voted down in the senate last Friday (September 9, 2011).

AB 375 would have created yet another presumption, this time for hospital workers.  If enacted, infection of certain bloodborne diseases would have been presumed compensable, even if the injury arises 180 days after the last day of work.

Admittedly, this is a limited victory.  It lightens no load for employers while merely checking one of the many encroachments against the employer survival rate.  However, a victory is a victory and even a cynic can be happy about that.

Roberto Ceniceros, of Business Insurance has an interesting article on an issue that quickly became one of the more frustrating parts of California Workers’ Compensation practice.  The conflicts between employees and insurance companies, or the employee’s self-insured employers, can be heated and difficult, but that’s the nature of the game.  The frustration comes in when the parties have agreed and want to settle, but Medicare tells them they can’t.

This was the subject of an earlier post, but the efforts to change this system are the subject of Mr. Cenicero’s article.  H.R. 1063 sponsored by (former) Congressman Tim Murphy, the bill is now referred to the House Subcommittee on Health, and would limit the amount of time CMS could respond to a request for Medicare Set-Aside approval.

Presently CMS will not respond to a request for approval of a settlement amount $25,000 or less if the applicant is a current Medicare beneficiary or will enroll in Medicare within the next 30 months and the settlement amount is over $250,000.  The CMS explanation may be read here.

As the saying goes, if wishes were fishes, we’d all be full (except, of course, those of us who do not eat fish).  That being said, both sides of the ongoing struggle of California Workers’ Compensation can wish for H.R. 1063 to eventually see the President’s signature.  For those who need a brush-up on how this process works:

SB-899 and the reforms of 2004 were a triumph for the State of California.  By no means did these reforms fix all the problems in California Workers’ Compensation, but at least some efforts were made to make California semi-profitable (read: survivable) for employers.

One of the regular targets for the chipping-away efforts of applicants, their attorneys, and their treating physicians, is Labor Code § 4656.  § 4656 limits applicants to 104 weeks of temporary disability within a 5 year period.

Temporary disability is meant to provide some semblance of income, 2/3rd of the injured workers’ average yearly wages, while the worker is recovering – treatment, improvement, etc.

That means that someone is paying the employee 2/3rd of his or her income and receiving no labor or benefits in return.

Assembly Bill 947, being pushed by Assemblyman Jose Solorio, would increase the cap on temporary disability to 240 weeks.  You can read the amended text here.  That means the self-insured employer or insurance company would be paying the worker three years worth of salary over the course of five years without seeing any productive labor in return.

Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee will have a hearing on the bill.  Having already worked its way through the Assembly your humble author can only hope that this bills finds a sudden and tragic demise somewhere in the Senate.