One of the lawmakers most involved in a massive rewrite of the state's workers compensation laws says he's confident the job will get done before the Legislature adjourns in late May.
He admits, though, that there's still a lot of work to be done.
"The bill is going to go to conference," Rep. Fred Jordan, R-Jenks, said Friday at a Tulsa Regional Chamber legislative breakfast. "The bill is more than 300 pages long. It has a lot of reforms, a lot of good reforms, a lot of things some people have concerns about. So we're going to take the bill to conference and make the changes that need to be made."
"The bill" is Senate Bill 1062. The authors of record are Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, and House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, but whatever ultimately emerges will be covered with the fingerprints of many legislators and outside advisers.
Virtually all of those involved in drafting the legislation agree that Oklahoma's workers compensation costs are too high, and that they are too high because the current system creates an adversarial relationship between employer and employee.
Their answer is to phase out the workers compensation courts in favor of an administrative system, and to allow employers the option of creating their own workers compensation "benefit plans" that would operate outside the regular system.
Currently, only Texas allows this sort of "opt-out" alternative, which means those sections of SB 1062 sail largely uncharted waters.
SB 1062 passed the Senate with little difficulty but underwent major revisions before approval last week by the House Judiciary Committee. In all likelihood, the bill will be passed by the full House during the next two weeks and, as Jordan said, go to a conference committee, where House and Senate members will try to negotiate a final version.
Depending on who is asked, the problems that committee will have to work out number somewhere between "many" and "a lot." That isn't too surprising, given that it seeks to replace a workers compensation system that has been in place, in various forms, since 1915.
It is even less surprising given that SB 1062 must conform to a state Constitution that, despite its uncounted amendments, remains at heart a populist document that favors the individual over the corporate.
"There are some very specific provisions in there about the right to redress," Jordan said Friday.
Bob Burke, an Oklahoma City lawyer who specializes in workers compensation, says 14 sections in the House version of SB 1062 are unconstitutional.
A lot of people on the other side would debate that number, but clearly there is concern about running afoul of Article 2, Section 6, which guarantees access to the courts and "certain remedy afforded for every wrong and for every injury to person, property or reputation."
That is why Jordan and the small army working on SB 1062 have focused much of their attention on a new appeals process.
"An appeals process is very, very key to the constitutionality of the entire workers compensation system," Jordan said.
Skeptics say the much-ballyhooed switch from court system to administrative system is largely cosmetic, designed to divert attention from benefit reductions, and will wind up costing taxpayers more based on the experiences of other states.
They also say the opt-out provisions are an attempt to preserve employers' immunity from state civil actions while giving them almost complete control of the benefits paid injured workers.
Supporters of SB 1062 deny both claims.
"The bill is going to pass," said Jordan. "We will have an administrative system, I feel very confident about that. I can't tell you the details of what the benefits are going to be because those things are in negotiation."
Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Workers comp rewrite has a ways to go, lawmaker says
