The Legislature has come to a virtual standstill over ... workers' compensation.
Unlikely as it may seem to some political observers, the decidedly un-sexy subject of workers' comp reform has emerged as the main stumbling block this year in the state Legislature. Within the debate, something known as voluntary settlements have become the primary focus of argument.
Jessica Gao, host of TVW's The Impact, tracked down a pair of Oregon officials -- one former and one current -- for this report on workers' compensation. And they both had some interesting things to say about voluntary settlements.
Gary Weeks, the former head of the state agencies overseeing workers' comp in both Oregon and Washington, called them a necessary part of a complete workers' comp system. Weeks -- who entered into the current debate here in Washington earlier this year with a letter supporting voluntary settlement agreements -- reiterated his position in the interview.
He also dismissed Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal to limit voluntary settlements to workers 55 or older, saying age shouldn't matter.
John Shilts, the current administrator of the Workers' Compensation Division of Oregon's Department of Consumer & Business Services, spoke about the successful turnaround of Oregon's workers' comp system since the landmark 1990 reform package agreed to by labor and business.
"Really, I think in the end, labor pushed that through more than anything else," he said.
Why would Oregon union leaders push for something that Washington labor officials are now doing everything they can to block?
"Because they knew they had some workers who would benefit from having an ability to settle their claims," Shilts said.
Check out the video:
That's what they thought beforehand. And even though Washington labor officials will try to make it sound as if their counterparts in Oregon now believe they got a bad deal, Shilts doesn't paint a picture of one-sided deals.
"Both sides typically see there's a benefit in that settlement and so they choose to do that," he said.
Imagine that.
Related: Here's a link to a new report from the Washington Research Council's debunking of the latest attempt to pretend that there's nothing wrong with Washington's current workers' comp system.
And here's the full report from Gao:
