SD9 - Report of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Feasibility of Instituting a Wage-Loss Concept and a Competitive Pricing Plan in the Workmen's Compensation System in Virginia

  • Published: 1983
  • Author: Joint Subcommittee Studying the Feasibility of Instituting a Wage-Loss Concept and a Competitive Pricing Plan in the Workmen's Compensation System in Virginia
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 13 (Regular Session, 1982)

Executive Summary:
The Joint Subcommittee Studying the Feasibility of Instituting a Wage-Loss Concept and a Competitive Pricing Plan in the Workmen's Compensation System in Virginia was established pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution No. 13 of the 1982 General Assembly.

In an effort to hear as much testimony as possible regarding the issue of instituting a wage-loss concept and a competitive pricing plan in the workmen's compensation system in Virginia, the Subcommittee scheduled three meetings to be held on July 27, August 17, and November 5 of 1982.

The Subcommittee heard a large amount of oral testimony at its meetings and also received position papers and other written materials from a number of organizations, including the Virginia AFL-CIO, the Virginia Manufacturers Association, the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance, the Virginia Compensation Bureau, the American Insurance Association, the Alliance of American Insurers, the Industrial Commission of Virginia, the Virginia Retail Merchants Association, the Florida Association of Insurance Agents, the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation, and the law firm of Ashcraft and Gerel of Alexandria, Virginia.

As a result of those representatives’ discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of instituting a wage-loss concept and competitive pricing plan in the workmen's compensation system in Virginia, the Subcommittee was able to decide early in its deliberations that the wage-loss concept deserved more attention than did the competitive pricing issue, and therefore the subcommittee decided to devote most of its attention to the wage-loss concept.

The Joint Subcommittee was aided in its study by having three citizen members as part of its membership. Mr. Lewis C. Spicer, Manager of the Workmen's Compensation Division of the Pittston Company Coal Group, was the citizen member representing employers. Mr. David H. Laws, Secretary-Treasurer of the Virginia State AFL-CIO, was the citizen member representing labor. Mr. Dwight Dillon, owner of Dillon Insurance Agency was the citizen member representing insurance companies writing workmen's compensation insurance in Virginia.