2424 Arden Way, Suite 230, Sacramento, California. For most Californians—and for that matter, most Sacramentans, this address means nothing. For some, it may provoke a response, “Is it close to the mall?” No, it is not. It is in a long block of fading strip commercial properties. It is in an area most of us wouldn’t want to walk around at night. Behind these buildings are apartment complexes whose tenants worry about theft and violent crime. 2424 Arden Way is also the local office of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. For most people, it simply does not exist.

There are rumors that this converted office space was turned into Board offices as a political favor in the 1980s. During the summer, injured workers often have to wait outside in the heat because the offices are not equipped to handle the caseload. The offices have burglar alarms and secure entrances not only because of theft of computer and other equipment useful to finance drug transactions, but also due to fear of potentially angry claimants. Periodically, workers are threatened by frustrated applicants who have no understanding of the workers’ compensation process and who are trying to figure out how to keep a roof over their family’s heads. So-called judges (formerly referees) dress casually and the clerical staff may or may not give you the time of day. Hearings may or may not go according to schedule, if they go at all.

Over the past two decades, there have been rumors of moving the Board offices back to downtown Sacramento. Nothing ever happened, even during the Davis administration, when labor was supposedly in charge. During the Davis administration, workers were supposed to be treated humanely and the DWC given resources necessary to make workers’ compensation function properly.

But that memo never worked its way down to Arden Way. Caring for injured workers during the four-plus years of Democratic control certainly meant spending more money for benefits, but it didn’t mean funding the Division of Workers’ Compensation or the Appeals Board adequately. It didn’t mean getting injured workers and their families out of the sun at Arden Way. While other state agencies were building new buildings, DWC and WCAB continued to struggle with program cuts. The Labor Agency, that grand bureaucratic restructuring signifying the importance of the working people of California to its government, certainly created new jobs and new titles for state workers. It certainly created new opportunities for former union employees to gain control of many aspects of California government, such as various standards boards and enforcement agencies. But Arden Way remained unchanged. The additional judge teams never were funded; technology upgrades never were implemented. Study after study to improve the efficiency of DWC and WCAB were shelved in various offices and as of today still collect dust.

With the recall came yet another call to fix California’s workers’ compensation system. Governor Schwarzenegger made it a priority and even threatened an initiative to bring costs down and improve care to injured workers. Employers now foot the bill for the entire DWC and WCAB operating budgets. To date, much time has been spent adding and subtracting words from the Labor Code and the Code of California Regulations. Employers and insurers wonder what the new permanent disability rating schedule will look like and how soon they can get their medical provider networks up and running. Applicants’ attorneys advertise for “horror stories” about perceived abuses due to the new laws and prepare to litigate over issues such as treatment guidelines and apportionment.

And still, no one mentions Arden Way. For most people, it simply does not exist.

You will never hear the words “Arden Way” in the Capitol. It is not found anywhere in the Labor Code or the Code of California Regulations. The General Government Budget Subcommittees in the Senate and the Assembly take no note of its existence as they listen to presentations from the Division of Workers’ Compensation, Department of Industrial Relations or the Labor Agency. No bills are introduced to sell Arden Way, or even to improve it. No rhetoric about treating injured workers humanely includes any reference to Arden Way. For most people, it simply does not exist.

A public policy pendulum in workers’ compensation has been swinging for at least the past four administrations. Republicans supposedly favor business over workers; Democrats elevate workers rights over the protests of struggling businesses. Regardless of who is in charge, Arden Way is still home to the Appeals Board, as it has been for nearly 20 years. For most people, it simply does not exist.

If the objective of the proponents of SB 899 is only to reduce costs, then the pendulum soon will begin to swing the other way. If the objective of the proponents of SB 899 is to reform the system, much more work needs to be done. Medical provider networks exist to improve medical care, not solely to make it less expensive. Medical treatment guidelines exist to make certain that necessary medical treatment is provided with minimum delay, not solely to provide a template for denials. The new permanent disability system is intended to provide more benefits to the truly disabled—not simply to have fewer cases with permanent disability that cost less.

The business community now has its law. It now has its administration. It now has complete control over the funding of DWC and WCAB. If all these hard-fought gains mean is that the business community still equates only cost savings with reform, ultimately there won’t be cost savings and there certainly won’t be reform. In other words, if you solve Arden Way, you have reformed the system. If it is still standing, and in the summer of 2006, injured workers are still desperate to find shade and wondering whether their cases will settle, we have accomplished little. It is that simple. But, for most people, it simply does not exist.