bill

State Fund looks to cut $350 million

April 20, 2012
The State Compensation Insurance Fund is in the midst of a major consolidation expected to shave $350 million in annual expenses, as the workers’ compensation insurer saw its premium volume dip once again in 2011, to just over $1 billion.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

State Fund looks to cut $350 million

April 20, 2012
The State Compensation Insurance Fund is in the midst of a major consolidation expected to shave $350 million in annual expenses, as the workers’ compensation insurer saw its premium volume dip once again in 2011, to just over $1 billion.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

In a crunch, State Fund targets small businesses

February 24, 2012
The State Compensation Insurance Fund ... has taken its hunt for cash into the courts, suing mom-and-pop contractors and billion-dollar companies alike in the Tri-Counties.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

State Fund offers dividend as a credit

November 24, 2011
The quasi-public State Compensation Insurance Fund, which bills itself as California's largest workers' compensation insurance carrier, said it plans to disburse a $50 million dividend to qualifying policyholders in the form of a premium credit.

The amount is approximately 5.2 percent of the estimated annual premium for the 2011 policy year.  Read more...

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

More than 500 Glendale workers set to lose their jobs

November 22, 2011

November 16, 2011 | 4:32 p.m.

California’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance plans to lay off more than 500 employees in Glendale next year — part of an overall strategy to cut up to 1,800 jobs statewide.

The government-controlled State Compensation Insurance Fund had planned to reduce expenses through negotiated concessions, consolidating offices and relocating thousands of workers, but officials said a drop in premiums paid by client companies forced the more drastic action.  Read more...

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Calif. workers comp statute of limitations begins when final audit bill sent: Court

October 20, 2011
SANTA ANA, Calif.—California's statute of limitations for collecting unpaid insurance premiums begins once an insurer has sent its final audit bill to the policyholder, a California appellate court ruled Thursday.

In a unanimous opinion, the court said the California State Compensation Insurance Fund could collect on $1 million in workers compensation premiums owed by building contractor WallDesign Inc., even though the company said SCIF waited too long to seek payment.  Read more...

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Unusual coalition pushes for restrictions on compounded drugs

January 3, 2011
An unusual coalition of corporations, insurance companies and labor groups is pushing for legislation that would put restrictions on the customized medicines known as compounded drugs, saying the prescribing of these drugs has become rife with abuse.

Critics of the use of compounded drugs point to a sharp rise in the bills submitted to the State Compensation Insurance Fund, the state's biggest workers' comp insurer.  Read more...

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

State Fund inquiry has gone very quiet

December 18, 2010
Nearly four years ago, state authorities forced out top-level officials at the government-run workers' compensation insurance firm, revamped the operation and launched a criminal investigation into reports of conflicts of interest, self-dealing and misuse of as much as $1 billion.

Today, that probe involving the State Compensation Insurance Fund continues in silence as prosecutors face possible statutes of limitations that would bar some criminal charges and civil lawsuits.  Read more...

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Governor Signs Measure to Enhance State's PACE Programs; Affects State Fund

October 12, 2010
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill to boost the financing of solar electric systems and other energy improvements made by property owners who pay for them through property taxes, but for now most such programs remain in limbo across the state and the nation.

The new law authorizes three state funds – the California Public Employees Retirement System, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, and the Pooled Money Investment Board – to invest in local bonds to fund PACE programs.  Read more...

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

California workers' comp premium volume falls

June 3, 2010
California’s workers’ compensation premium volume last year declined for the fifth year in a row to a nine-year low of $6.9 billion, new data shows.

As the total amount paid into the workers’ comp system has decreased, so has the market share for the California State Compensation Insurance Fund, the institute reported Wednesday.

Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Union Relents, SCIF Bill Passes

May 5, 2010
A prominent union for state employees is pushing a tough slate of reforms for California's largest workers' comp carrier. Will policyholders see a benefit or did it give up too much to get the bill through committee? Premium subscribers can get the full story by clicking here.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

SCIF employees get bad tax news on vehicle use

April 16, 2010
Hundreds of workers at State Compensation Insurance Fund face a bigger income tax bill next year because their employer didn't understand the law for reporting company vehicle use.   Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Proposed Legislation Targets State Fund

February 19, 2010
The bills are piling up and at least one legislator is taking an interest in State Compensation Insurance Fund. What can possibly be in store for State Fund? Click here to find out.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

California Plans Fast Data Center Consolidation

February 12, 2010
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Tuesday stipulating that California reduce the total amount of data center square footage currently utilized by state agencies by 25 percent by July, and by 50 percent by July 2011. ... The state has $3 billion in annual IT expenditures. In the past two years the state has begun consolidating some aging department-level data centers into a more modern facility in Vacaville that the state is leasing from the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), a nonprofit that provides workers compensation insurance to employers.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

The state budget: funny money and quicksand

January 21, 2010
The administration several months ago sought to sell off a piece of the State Compensation Insurance Fund to capture $1 billion, a move that fiscal analysts in and out of government said was poorly thought out and unworkable even before the ink was dry on the proposal. Workable or not, the sale can't go proceed now because of litigation.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Budget fault lines emerge between legislative Dems

June 11, 2009
But he said Senate Democrats supported the governor’s $6 billion worth of new revenues, internal borrowing and other money-making measures, such as selling off a portion of the State Compensation Insurance Fund.   Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Budget fault lines emerge between legislative Dems

June 11, 2009
But he said Senate Democrats supported the governor’s $6 billion worth of new revenues, internal borrowing and other money-making measures, such as selling off a portion of the State Compensation Insurance Fund.   Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Machado bill pushes transparency at State Fund, but some want more

July 17, 2008
A bill to overhaul many of the rules governing the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) appears to have a clear path to passage. In the meantime, however, there are contentious negotiations going on in the Assembly to narrow some of the exemptions granted in the measure.   Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Auditor’s report to target laggard state agencies

December 20, 2007
SCIF has long maintained that it is not subject to some of the reporting and disclosure rules that apply to other areas of government. Speier’s bill expands the auditor’s authority over all state agencies — including SCIF — and specifically notes that the state’s whistleblower law applies to SCIF, an issue that had been hard fought in the Capitol behind the scenes.   Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Experts Expound

December 13, 2007
“There’s trouble brewing at the nearly century-old State Compensation Insurance Fund, a quasi-private entity, where potentially billions of dollars have been spent with scant oversight and little public disclosure. Should the state step in and take it over?”   Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Auditor’s report to target laggard state agencies

December 13, 2007
Among other things, Speier's bill, SB1452 of the 2005-06 legislative session, requires the Bureau of State Audits to report each year to the Legislature by Jan.15 the names of state entities who failed to meet the auditor's compliance rules. The bill also reaffirms and expands the auditor's authority to audit state agencies - including the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), the nearly century-old, quasi-governmental pool that provides workers compensation insurance to those who are unable to get it on the private market.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn

Experts Expound

October 5, 2006
AB 2125 settled a long-running dispute to allow the insurance commissioner to regulate state fund. If state fund were to go under it would be hundreds of millions of dollars to the General Fund and this bill will help prevent that from happening.  Read more...
Bookmark/Search this post with:
FacebookTwitterdel.icio.usBuzz Up!DiggGoogleLinkedIn