More good news from the legislature, dear readers!

Assembly Bill 1309, which would limit California’s workers’ compensation system, with all its generous benefits and cumulative trauma claims, to California professional athletes (locking out players who have played as little as one game in our glorious state), has moved closer to becoming law.  As of last Thursday, the Assembly passed AB 1309 in a landslide 57 to 1, and moving the bill to the Senate, which hopefully pass it with all due speed and send it to Governor Brown for signing.

Your humble blogger has no word one way or the other how “the Big J” will act on this bill if given the chance to sign it into law.  However, whatever Governor Brown’s other virtues or vices, good qualities and bad, he has a proven track record of signing into law workers’ compensation reforms that curb the exploitation of businesses, employers, and insurers.

After all, he reportedly lent his political weight to the passage of SB-863 (for better or for worse, time will tell), and signed several pro-business workers’ compensation laws while vetoing several anti-business ones.  As I’m told that “a trend is your friend,” here’s hoping that the Governor continues to maintain friendly relations with this seeming trend and sign this bill into law once it hits his desk.

What does this mean for Californians?  If the bill passes, we can expect to see less demand on the workers’ compensation system (an entire class of employees, the vast majority of professional athletes), will be barred from burdening California’s workers’ compensation system to recover for injuries sustained outside of California.

Additionally, your favorite panel attorneys will have a bit less work and might be more inclined to refrain from raising their rates for a little while longer as there will be less claims to defend.

And, of course, less money in the pot means less attorneys’ fees and payouts for the applicants bar (my heart bleeds for them!)

Let’s hope for a speedy passage and an immediately-felt effect.