AUGUSTA – Injured workers could see another year’s worth of benefits in 2005.

Or two.

On Wednesday, Deputy Director Steve Minkowsky said four firms have bid to conduct a study for the Workers’ Compensation Board that compares Maine’s injury data to the rest of the country.

With that information, directors decide whether to increase benefits. That decision is supposed to be made every winter, but the numbers never came for 2004. So this time around the report will tackle two years.

Benefits currently have a limit of seven years for most people injured at work.

Firms have bid between $13,000 and $46,000 for the project.

At its regular meeting, the board also rolled out legislation it will consider pursuing next session:

• After a Maine Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, the number of physicians able to do independent medical examinations was halved to about 15. The gist: If a doctor has done a paid examination in the last year for an insurance company, he or she is no longer considered “independent,” general counsel John Rohde said. Those doctors regularly offer opinions in disputes between insurance companies and injured workers, and there’s fear this ruling creates a backlog.

This bill would let the board designate one specialist as “independent” if no one else fit the definition.

• Right now, Rhode said, if an injured worker with full benefits finds a new job that pays more money than the old job, the insurance carrier can litigate to stop those benefits. Passing this bill would stop those benefits automatically, but if the pay decreases at the new job, or the worker loses it, the insurer would be obligated to restart full benefits.

• The board is currently funded by charging fees up to $8.5 million to Maine businesses. That maximum is set by the Legislature. One bill would allow it to adjust automatically for inflation and increases in salaries and benefits. A second bill would do away with that ceiling. The board would submit a budget for approval to the Legislature, and business would be charged whatever amount the Legislature ultimately approves.

Board Chairman Paul Dionne said he would meet with Gov. John Baldacci’s staff this week to discuss other legislation.