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On most issues, Senate President Jim King has contrasted with House Speaker Johnnie Byrd. But on the alarmingly one-sided workers' compensation bill, he seems all too eager to make a deal.
Legislators returning to Tallahassee today to finish work on the budget will be told that they must also pass the workers' compensation bill because Senate President Jim King, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd and Gov. Jeb Bush all agreed to it. To that, let them answer: "Where in the Constitution does it say that I have to?"
Even by Tallahassee standards, this legislation, HB 25A, is grotesquely one-sided.
There is Byrd's own word for that. During a joint public television interview with King, he said Friday that amendments would be allowed "if there is consensus about changes that would be good for Florida's businesses."
But not if they would be good for Florida's injured workers? The legislative record is already depressingly clear on that. Virtually every amendment to make it a fairer piece of work has met defeat on the floor of the House or Senate, responding to orders from the insurance lobby.
Florida's benefits to injured workers already are among the nation's lowest, while only California's employers pay more for their insurance. On one hand, the legislation raises some payments, notably for death and temporary disability. But on the other, there are provisions, restricting legal fees, independent medical examinations and mental health care, that are calculated to make benefits harder to collect. Dwayne Sealy, secretary-treasurer of the Florida AFL-CIO, was not entirely hyperbolic when he remarked to a reporter, "If you get hurt in Florida, die! That's the only way to collect benefits."
The sponsors point out that the bill also provides financial penalties of up to $100,000 for employers or insurers that willfully delay legitimate benefits or harass employees for making claims. But the efficacy of this deterrent remains to be proved.
One of the meanest provisions would cut off permanent total disability payments at age 75, even if the victim does not receive income from Social Security. A Senate staff report noted that as nearly one in four people over 75 is not on Social Security, the costs of caring for many of them could be shifted from employers to the state.
The Holy Grail of this pursuit is a dubious prediction that insurance charges might be cut by 12.35 percent, almost all of it at the expense of injured workers. Legislators of both parties question the reliability of these estimates by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which represents the insurance industry. An independent examination by the Senate's consultant did not reassure them, and neither did NCCI's testimony to a Senate committee.
As it stands, the legislation is so one-sided as to risk being declared in violation of Florida's constitutional right of access to the courts.
The Florida Supreme Court already has ruled that a suit for wrongful injury or death can be filed outside the compensation system if the employer was intentionally negligent or should have known that it was exposing an employee to a substantial risk. The bill proposes to undo this protection by requiring proof of actual intent to harm or kill. This grotesque provision was too much for the Senate, which voted without objection to delete it.
Senators intended that principled action to be a message to Byrd to negotiate other changes as well. King promptly undercut his colleagues by saying he would "feel compelled" to pass the unamended House version if Byrd insists, and that all senators were bound by his promise. In the joint interview with Byrd, he was abject. The Senate would welcome changes, he said, but "if not, the bill that we did is the bill we do."
King contends that if the legislation turns out badly, "history will give us a chance to correct it." That's not necessarily so, and it is also very much beside the point. The real issue is the integrity of government of, by and for the people. Legislators are elected to vote their consciences, not to ratify deals that someone else made for them.
In most respects, King's leadership of the Senate has contrasted pleasantly with Byrd's lordship over the House, but on this issue the Senate president is much too eager to make a deal, and a bad deal at that.
It's not as if this were the last chance. There will be another special session, on medical malpractice, next month. That's time enough, and soon enough, to do workers' compensation right.