The obits have appeared in the news media.
Workers' comp reform is dead, at least this year, according to Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles.
But business leaders refuse to give up hope that lawmakers will act this year to reform a system that is on track to give them year after year of hefty rate increases in an effort to keep it solvent.
The uphill struggle for HB 2950 ran into its latest obstacle Monday in a work session of the Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee.
Kohl-Welles, chairwoman of the committee, told a room full of business leaders that "we're not going to have resolution on workers' comp in a short legislative session. It's just not going to happen."
Later in the day, a coalition of business groups rejected Kohl-Welles suggestion to form a task force and instead issued a new call for reform this year.
"A task force on workers' compensation would be a waste of time and we would boycott it," said Patrick Connor, Washington state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
At the same time, talks continue with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to build support for reform this session.
Instead of taking action now, Kohl-Welles suggested that another task force made up of state officials and representatives of the business and labor communities look into the issue with an eye toward a fix in 2011.
The proposal didn't go over well with either the business or labor communities. AWB's Kris Tefft raised a number of objections to SB 6775, the bill proposing a task force, including the fact that similar efforts have been tried repeatedly for years to no avail.
Tefft pointed to a 1984 task force -- back in the Gov. John Spellman era -- as proof.
Other concerns include the failure on the part of organized labor leaders to acknowledge a problem with the workers' comp system at all, and their inflammatory comments in the news media.
Labor leaders have characterized business' criticism of the system as "preposterous" and accused business leaders of trying to cut benefits to injured workers. It may be political posturing, Tefft said, but it undermines trust.
David Johnson, executive secretary of the Washington Building Construction & Trade Council, testified that he had concerns about the task force idea.
Only Michael Temple, representing trial lawyers, voiced support of the task force proposal.
Still, the discussion Monday in Kohl-Welles' Senate committee represented more progress than the issue has made in the House, where Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, has refused to hear HB 2950, a bill that's widely acknowledged to be a moderate, compromise approach to the issue.
The work session began with a presentation from state Labor & Industries Director Judy Schurke, who repeated claims that she believes reforms are in order.
There is no question that there are certain claim trends that L&I has been watching closely the last several years, Schurke said, noting "troubling" increases in the length of time injured workers miss work, as well as an increase in the likelihood that an injury will become a lifetime disability.
"I have to say I share the business community's sense of urgency to change these long-term disability trends," Schurke said. "I don't feel they are good for workers, or employers in our system."
But Schurke added that she also shares labor's concerns about not wanting to rush into changes in this legislative session.
Businesses hit by an average 7.6 percent workers' comp insurance rate hike this year no doubt want relief as soon as possible.
As if that wasn't enough incentive, Schurke told lawmakers Monday, "I still have to set rates for 2011, and the picture doesn't look much better."
And then there is this audit commissioned by the state Auditor's Office.
It raises serious concerns about the long-term health of Washington's workers' comp system. A follow-up letter from Auditor Brian Sonntag -- in which he clarifies that the system is currently sound -- is far from a vindication of the current system.
"Again, our report is a warning that if this condition continues, the future liabilities may exceed assets within a few years, creating a financial hole difficult to recover from," Sonntag writes.
This is the same system that labor leaders hail as one of the finest in country, and that lawmakers are afraid to touch.
In case there was any doubt about what's going on behind the scenes, reporter Austin Jenkins offered this insight on the Web site Crosscut about the Washington State Labor Council's effort to kill workers' comp reform.
And The News Tribune pulled no punches in its editorial last week, saying that HB 2950 had become something of a litmus test for Democrats in the state Legislature who are being told by organized labor to "toe the line" on it.
The editorial began by stating flatly that "lawmakers who refuse to fix the state's program for injured workers wouldn't know a mandate if it hit them upside the head."
The headline was prescient: "Workers' comp reform: If not now, when?"
Business owners, staggered by a severe recession and facing many years of workers' comp tax increases, are waiting for an answer.
