Arnold Schwarzenegger, full of bravado, threatened to “blow up boxes” in
Sacramento.
Tomorrow, with his budget revise, Governor Brown will outline plans to do just that.
Partly it’s a function of the looming chaos in Sacramento, where the way forward out of the budget mess is murky. And perhaps it’s also a function of a desire to reinvent portions of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
One target for reform is the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which Brown would seek to terminate. If this was done, it’s not clear how unemployment appeals would be processed.
Undoubtedly we’ll hear more in coming days on how this would be achieved. There would still be ALJs deciding UI cases. But as with cases at the WCAB, the CUAIB hears appeals from the ALJs and sets precedent that way. There will need to be some mechanism in place for those appeals to be heard unless there is an overall statutory change in procedure.
Under Schwarzenegger, there was various talk of consolidating functions of some of the appeals boards that operate in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Whether Brown and Marty Morganstern truly believe this is a political heavy lift that is worthwhile given the relatively small savings isn’t clear.
Eliminating the Unemployment Appeals Board could hit political sppedbumps. The board has been a place where politically powerful termed-out legislators landed after their career under the Capitol dome.
Current members include recent Attorney General candidate Alberto Torrico, former State Senator Denise Ducheny, and recent Republican legislators Bonnie Garcia, George Plescia, Roy Ashburn and Dennis Hollingsworth.
Ducheny was quoted in the L.A. Times that she doesn’t see how eliminating the board will save the state money since the panel is mostly federally funded.
The bigger question is what the Brown Administration will do to address the looming problem of financing California’s unemployment system. Here is a link to the Legislative Analyst Office report on the massive UI shortfall:
http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2010/ssrv … 102010.pdf
A link to the CUIAB website is here:
http://www.cuiab.ca.gov/board_information.shtm
Stay tuned.
Julius Young
www.workerscompzone.com
www.boxerlaw.com
www.thecompguys.org
Category: Political developments
510.835.8870