Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels once famously said that living next to Illinois is like living next door to the Simpsons, “that dysfunctional family down the street”. Daniels made the comment while his state was the beneficiary of Illinois’ continued problems in getting their fiscal house in order, and employers were busily moving jobs to neighboring jurisdictions. I read a story this morning on lexology.com that reads like a script for just another episode of the iconic cartoon series. It relates to Illinois’ latest attempt to reform it’s workers’ compensation system, and the script summary reads like this:
New governor outlines needed reforms at start of term.
Governor fails to actually present reforms in the form of proposed legislation.
Opposition takes the lead in state house, proposes said reforms, and then shoots them down.
Governors party proposes reforms in Senate, which die in committee.
Opposing majority party proposes (and passes in one day) new reforms in the Senate.
Governor issues memo regarding his position, following the time honored tradition of General George S. Patton, who said “Lead me, follow me, or read my memo.”
Ok, that is not exactly what he said, but in Illinois that is what the politicians heard. You need to read the source story to get the full feel of what is happening there, but it doesn’t sound as if it is going well.
All of this is occurring when the legislators are in the third month of an overtime session and they haven’t even been able to agree on a state budget for this fiscal year – which started last month.
The current Senate Bill, SB 162, which passed with no Republican votes, would make the following changes to the Illinois workers’ comp system:
- Clarify when an injury arises out of and in the course of employment;
- Establish a traveling employee standard;
- Codify an existing practice that allows parties to agree not to utilize an impairment report;
- Establish an electronic claim system;
- Establish a Workers' Compensation ombudsman; and
- Create a legislative commission to review the Workers' Compensation Act.
While other failed proposals (see script summary above) were largely considered more punitive to insurance carriers, the primary sticking point between this bill and the Governors desired outcome is, according to his Pattonesque leadership memo, his “insistence on adopting a higher causation standard”, and the adoption of AMA guidelines.
This would not be nearly so interesting if Illinois was just another mundane state with a basic workaday no frills workers’ compensation system. But it isn’t. Illinois is considered, by many in the industry, to have one of the worst systems in the nation, both in complexity and expense. Speak to any workers’ compensation professional in neighboring jurisdictions and they will sound like Mitch Daniels; Illinois workers’ comp is nothing but a hot mess to avoid at all costs. This is, after all, the same state where a prison corrections officer was once awarded benefits for “repetitive walking”, and several of the workers’ comp arbitrator’s were found to have multiple workers’ compensation claims themselves – quickly and quietly adjudicated by their friends in the system.
And it is the only state in the nation with a Governors’ Suite in its state penitentiary. That doesn’t help the image, don’t cha know….
So, this episode of the Illinois Simpsons continues, and the ending has not yet been written. Will they agree on a budget for the state? Will they find a fix for their workers’ compensation system, or will they merely foul it further with more complex and meaningless rules? Will the Cub’s ever have a winning season?
Sadly, an affirmative answer is unlikely for all, but nothing is certain. Well, almost nothing. The one thing we can almost bet on is that, if Bart Simpson ever ran for a leadership office in Illinois, he would likely win by a landslide.
After all, how much worse off could the state be if he did?