BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1168
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 4, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  AB 1168 (Pan) - As Introduced:  February 18, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              InsuranceVote:12 
          - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the Administrative Director of the Division 
          of Worker's Compensation to develop by January 1, 2013, a fee 
          schedule that establishes maximum fees paid for services 
          provided by vocational experts. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)The costs for the administrative director to adopt a fee 
            schedule would be minor and absorbable within existing 
            resources. 

          2)To the extent this fee schedule reduces the cost of vocational 
            experts, it could result in savings to the Workers' 
            Compensation Administrative Revolving Fund

           COMMENTS  

           Rationale  . According to the author, vocational counselors who 
          used to receive $65 per hour under a former benefit known as 
          Vocational Rehabilitation (repealed by the 2004 workers' 
          compensation reforms) are now billing two, three, and four times 
          that amount when serving as experts when an injured worker seeks 
          to rebut their Permanent Disability Rating Schedule (PDRS). 

          In addition, the author notes that fee schedules are the norm 
          for virtually all participants in the workers' compensation 
          system who receive payment for services.  This bill would simply 
          align these vocational experts with the other service providers 
          in the system. 









                                                                  AB 1168
                                                                  Page  2

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081