FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 10, 2004

Contacts:
Warren Robak    RAND (310) 451-6913
Melinda Vaughn    USC (213) 821-5697
Jack Cox    Communications Institute (626) 796-4747, Cell: (818) 371-0060

GOVERNMENT, BUSINESS AND LABOR LEADERS CONVENE FOR CONFERENCE ON WORKERS COMPENSATION

LOS ANGELES -- Leaders from the California Legislature and the California's Insurance Commissioner will join others from government, business, and labor to take part in a special conference on the California Workers' Compensation System today at the University of Southern California. The conference's purpose is to bring national experts from the research community together with government, labor, and business leaders to deliberate on this critical issue and develop a nonpartisan consensus that can help state legislators resolve the crisis.

The conference is jointly sponsored by the Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) at the RAND Corporation, the Center in Law, Economics and Organization at USC Law; the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation (CHSWC); and The Communications Institute.

California's workers' compensation insurance rates are the highest in the country and employers are threatening to leave California. The California Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger are promising system-wide reform in 2004, and the Governor announced his intention to make dramatic changes in the system in the State of the State Speech this week in Sacramento

"We believe that our elected officials, business, community and labor leaders, and citizens need to approach this issue from an analytical perspective that reduces political rhetoric and stresses a realistic solution," declared the conference sponsors.

The national experts on workers' compensation addressing the conference include:

• John Burton, J.D., Ph.D., Professor, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University

• Peter Berth, Ph.D., Professor, University of Connecticut; former executive director, National Commission on State Workmen's Compensation Law

• Leslie Borden, Ph.D., Professor, Boston University; Co-chair of the Advisory Board to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

• Robert Reville, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Civil Justice, Rand Corporation

The conference also will bring together a group of legislators and other stakeholders who will take part in discussions that aim to build consensus for reforms that are fair to everyone. They include:

• Richard Barger, State Insurance Commissioner for Governor Ronald Reagan

• John Garamendi, State Insurance Commissioner

• Assemblyman Joe Nation (D-San Rafael)

• Assemblyman Rick Keene (R-Chico)*

• Senator Charles Poochigian   (R-Fresno), Sponsor of Senate Bill 899*

• Senator Richard Alarcon (D-Sun Valley), Chair, Labor and Industrial Relations Committee*

The conference sponsors have diverse experience in public policy, economics, and communications.

USC Law's Center for Law, Economics and Organization is a research center that works to improve understanding of how economics, law and organizations interact. The RAND Corporation's Institute for Civil Justice is an independent research program with the mission to help make the civil justice system more efficient and more equitable.

The Communications Institute, a consortium of academic institutions and scholars based in Pasadena, California, was founded to enhance the ability of society to confront critical issues through the knowledge and application of objective, non-partisan research and perspectives. The Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation is a joint labor-management body created by the workers' compensation reform legislation of 1993 and charged with overseeing worker health and safety and workers' compensation systems in California and recommending administrative or legislative modifications to improve their operation.

For complete information on the conference go to www.communicationsinstitute.org.