Finding recent testimony convincing, the Legislature is content to leave the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board and the California Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board in their present forms. It came as a relief to many despite suggestions of paring back or even combining the two. The Appeals Boards serve as specialty courts, both on an administrative-law level and what is effectively a superior court level, to deal with these unique areas of law. Appeals from these boards move into the Appellate Courts.
California’s budget crisis is conjuring up four-year-old nostrums, including proposals from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Performance Review involving reorganization of specific boards and commissions. At a recent information hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations, commissioners drove home the point that the two entities are too distinct to consolidate and too busy to cut.
The result of either could slow down appeals and benefits for injured workers and sacrifice safety in the workplace.
The WCAB hearing began with a cost analysis by the Department of Finance, which showed that complete elimination of the commissioners’ board would result in a savings of only $1.2 million while a reduction to a half-time board would save roughly $700,000. But WCAB is entirely funded by the Workers’ Compensation Administration Revolving Fund, and receives no support from the General Fund. The funding comes from assessments on employers.
“You would not be achieving any kind of General Fund benefit or savings.”
—Kristin Shelton,
Department of Finance
“You would not be achieving any kind of General Fund benefit or savings,” Kristin Shelton, the Department of Finance expert, told the members.
Joe Miller, chairman of WCAB, along with WCAB commissioner Jim Cuneo, testified that the board is a full-time body, and cannot be reduced. The job of a WCAB commissioner is not one that lends itself to telecommuting because of voluminous legal documents that must be consulted. Both Miller and Cuneo moved to San Francisco, where WCAB is.
“It just didn’t make sense then. It doesn’t make sense now to combine us,” said Cuneo. “We’re so different as boards in what we do.”
And while the idea of combining WCAB with Cal/OSHA Appeals Board was suggested, committee members seemed to agree that there was not enough linkage between the two for a successful consolidation. Another senator observed that enforcement of safe workplaces prevents injuries that later become workers’ comp cases.
Regardless of how the two may dovetail, Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Oceanside) is emphatic that both boards cannot function as a single body. The best option would be to explore efficiencies within the boards to save money, rather than changing board structures.
“They are absolutely, completely distinct and different,” he said.
OSHA Echoes WCAB
The hearing for OSHAB closely followed the script of the WCAB hearing. Cost analysis from the Department of Finance indicated a $500,000 savings for full elimination of the board, and $300,000 for reduction of the board to half-time.
“We’ve got a lot bigger fish to fry. Let’s focus on the bigger issues we have to deal with.”
— Sen. Mark Wyland
(R-Oceanside)
OSHAB also has shifted over completely to user funding as of the 2009-10 budget. There would be no benefit to the General Fund. In addition, the representative from the Legislative Analyst’s Office revealed that elimination of OSHAB could actually hurt the General Fund.
“The decisions of the board often result in amounts payable to the General Fund. In 2008-09 there was over $10 million as a result of the board’s activities,” stated LAO’s Jenny Bellow.
Candice Traeger, OSHAB chair, testified on the status of the board, and how it would be affected by consolidation or reduction. The board already is working through a backlog of cases. Any negative changes in OSHAB would reduce the board’s ability to make decisions, she explained, and leave cases undecided while workplaces remain unsafe.
Again, the Senate Committee agreed that improving efficiency within the board was key, and that the board couldn’t be effectively reduced or consolidated with its current workload. The chair of the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Walnut Creek), closed the meeting by affirming the boards’ need to continue on their current heading, and acknowledging promises made for improvement.
Perhaps the most astute observation of the day came from Wyland. “We’ve got a lot bigger fish to fry,” said the senator. “Let’s focus on the bigger issues we have to deal with.”
By interns Paul Stremple (UCLA) and Christy Johnson (Georgetown)