The panel would have seven members to remove the possibility of a tie.
AUGUSTA – Gov. John Baldacci rolled out legislation Tuesday that would reduce the Workers’ Compensation Board to six members and make the executive director chairman of the board, complete with a vote.
Issues wouldn’t stall in a tie anymore.
“Both sides have understood quite frankly that deadlock is an option,” Commissioner Buddy Murray of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation told the Labor Committee at a public hearing.
The eight directors – four chosen by the Maine AFL-CIO, four by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce – decide when to extend benefits to injured workers, when people are eligible for lifetime benefits and other issues that affect the price of workers comp insurance in Maine, an often-maligned cost of doing business here.
But directors haven’t met in almost two months. The last meeting, on Feb. 4, ended when half walked of them out.
Patricia Lemaire, a labor member and retired teacher and former legislator from Lewiston, resigned this month.
Awaiting votes are decisions on next year’s budget, which gets billed to businesses, extending the term of one hearing officer and sending out a report to judge Maine’s injury rate.
“We’ve finally arrived at the point where the comp board doesn’t seem to accomplish anything,” said Rep. Russell Treadwell, R-Carmel, a co-sponsor.
Baldacci’s bill would:
• Cut the board’s membership to three labor, three management.
• Remove authority to hire an executive director from the board and give it to the governor, subject to confirmation by the Labor Committee and Senate.
• Allow action by majority vote.
Current members would cycle off the board by Feb. 1, 2005
Murray acknowledged the pressure placed on the executive director as tie-breaker, but spoke against giving the position a fixed term. It would lend the position accountability, he said.
The proposal represents a “tremendous leap of faith for both sides,” said Peter Gore with the Maine chamber. Both his group and the AFL-CIO support Baldacci’s bill.
No one spoke against it at Tuesday’s hearing.
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