Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have only been in session a little more than a week. But after the hours many of us have worked to develop the four major pieces of legislation that have passed the House of Delegates, I'm not surprised at what we've accomplished. After only eight days of the legislative session, the House approved bills dealing with the issues of medical malpractice insurance costs, all-terrain vehicle safety, Workers Compensation and reducing government spending.
House Speaker Bob Kiss had set a two-week deadline for dispensing with the legislation, and was very pleased when the House met and surpassed his challenge. As a member of the Rules Committee, which aids the Speaker in planning the House of Delegates agenda, I learned that the chairs of the major committees had gauged what topics the majority of legislators would like to be contained in the bills, and started working with staff to draft proposed legislation as early as two months ago. The effort paid off - all four bills received a majority vote in the House on the same day.
But it wasn't smooth sailing for every bill, as I learned firsthand through my work on the House Judiciary Committee. The problems surrounding our state's medical malpractice insurance are complex, so as expected, the legislation intended to provide solutions was complicated as well. And while I believe nearly every delegate has been eager for the House to adopt measures to address the medical malpractice crisis, committee members were cautious and deliberative.
Needless to say, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding tort reform - the effort to curb frivolous lawsuits and overly large jury verdicts, which are the primary problems insurance companies blame for escalating malpractice insurance costs in West Virginia. So as the Judiciary Committee convened to work on the bill, it was standing-room only all day and well into the evening. We started deliberation in the morning, took a break to attend the House floor session, then gathered again in the afternoon. Finally, around 9:30 p.m., we had finished questioning the staff attorney about the details of the bill, debated amendments, and settled on the legislation.
The bill contains $250,000 cap on non-economic awards, increases the expert witness qualification requirement, and eliminates third-party liability. But unlike legislation proposed by Gov. Bob Wise and members of the health care industry, our bill also would create a catastrophic injury fund designed to assure financial compensation for future victims of the most serious malpractice. We also provided a subsidy, in the form of a provider tax credit, to help doctors cover current medical malpractice insurance costs.
The medical malpractice legislation, as well as the three other major bills, are now on their way to the Senate for consideration. All four bills passed the House by a substantial majority.
The House's ATV bill contains basic safety measures, such as the requirement that anyone under the age of 18 wear a helmet. All-terrain vehicles would not be permitted on lined roads, but exemptions would be provided for trail crossings and special circumstances such as providing aid in natural disasters or for events such as parades. The legislation would not prevent counties or cities from adopting more restrictive ATV ordinances.
The legislation intended to reduce the cost of government has a dual purpose. The Education Committee has long discussed the need to curb the rising cost of maintaining our higher education system. At the same time, West Virginia's Workers Compensation Fund is in need of an immediate infusion of funds just to stay afloat. The House adopted a bill which would require the Higher Education Policy Commission to privatize, merge or close at least two institutions by 2007. Free-standing community colleges would be excluded from the pool of institutions under consideration.
The money saved from that effort, approximately $20 million annually, would be allocated to the Workers Compensation Fund. Meanwhile, the House also passed a bill which would make several changes to the Workers Compensation System to provide some long-term solutions.
The House proposal is to close the Second-Injury Fund, which has allowed a few large companies to defray significant workers compensation costs at the expense of the entire system. The threshold for Permanent Total Disability would move back to 50 percent, the level the Legislature set in the 1995 Workers Compensation reform legislation, but was reduced in recent years. The percentage used to calculate Temporary Total Disability would be reduced from 70 percent of the weekly wage to 66 and 2/3 percent, a standard most other states use. Self-insured companies would be able to administer their own workers compensation claims, and starting July 1, there would be a prohibition on the artificial setting of rates, commonly referred to as a rate freeze.
* I welcome and appreciate your input on these issues, or any other legislative matter. Please call me at (304)340-3106 or write to Delegate Virginia Mahan, 215-E, Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV 25305.