California once again leads the nation in workers’ compensation costs, adjusted a few years ago under Governor Jerry Brown to insure injured workers were not deprived of just compensation for on-the-job injuries while still protecting employers’ expenses.
The situation is not to the point that it was a decade ago – yet. According to the survey conducted by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, California worker’s comp costs are $3.48 per $100 of payroll. In 2003, the year before the compromise bill was passed, worker’s comp cost $4.81 per $100 of payroll with costs projected to rise to a staggering $6.50 per $100 of payroll by 2006.
Stopping the increased costs must be a concern of the newly elected legislature. If workers’ comp costs climb to a point where they were during the workers’ comp war of ten years ago, another initiative may beckon. With the low turnout in the recent gubernatorial election the amount of signatures needed to qualify an initiative for the ballot has dropped. The necessary signatures to put a workers’ comp reform measure on the ballot would be easier to attain.