Arnold's gift to California's workers

AP:

The Schwarzenegger administration today released a sweeping set of regulations aimed at revising how doctors evaluate permanent injuries to workers and how much compensation they are paid.

The new regulations are a key element of the landmark reform of the state's compensation system approved by the Legislature last spring and aimed at cutting billions from the rates employers pay for insurance.

The new proposal calls for the use of guidelines developed by the American Medical Association for measuring permanent disabilities. The administration also wants to employ a new formula for translating the degree of injury into dollars paid in compensation.

Union officials and worker advocates said the new regulations will result in cutting benefits for workers. Critics also complain the public only has a few days to comment on the plan before they could be adopted.

"Gov. (Arnold) Schwarzenegger is making these cuts at a time when most people will not be paying attention," said Art Pulaski, executive secretary treasurer of the California Labor Federation. "Injured workers deserve better than a weekend attack like this. If the governor is going make drastic cuts in their payments, he should at least give them a chance to respond."