REPEAL OF WORKERS' COMP ANTI-FRAUD FEE SOUGHT.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LANCASTER - Assemblywoman as·sem·bly·wom·an n. A woman who is a member of a legislative assembly. Noun 1. assemblywoman - a woman assemblyman representative - a person who represents others Sharon Runner Sharon Runner (born May 17 1954, Los Angeles) is a Californian politician. She has been a member of the California State Assembly since 2002. Runner, a Republican from Antelope Valley represents the 36th district. is seeking the repeal of a fee charged in workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. insurance to investigate fraud, stating that the commission overseeing the money is not getting the job done. Runner, R-Lancaster, authored Assembly Bill 521, which would repeal the fee and close the state's Fraud Assessment Commission. The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Insurance Committee on Wednesday. Runner cited a state Bureau of Auditors report released a year ago that found that the commission hadn't taken steps to measure fraud nor had it developed any strategy to reduce it. The state audit found that nothing had been done to show that the assessments employers pay, roughly totaling $30 million a year, are necessary or that the money is being put to the best use for reducing the overall costs fraud adds to the system. ``It's not being used the way it should to investigate fraud,'' Runner said. ``It's gone into this big hole of bureaucracy.'' Both the fee and the commission should be halted and the state needs to find better ways to assist county district attorneys in pursuing fraud cases. Runner said she asked for the audit after being approached by the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce asking for an accounting of the fee. ``I'm not objecting to fighting fraud, but the money has gone into the system and has just evaporated evaporated reduced in volume by evaporation; concentrated to a denser form. ,'' said Harvey Holloway, a chamber member who works on legislative issues. William Zachry, chairman of the commission, told auditors the concerns raised in the audit would be addressed. In a letter to Elaine Howle, state auditor State auditors are executive officers of U.S. states. The office usually is created by the state constitution.
``This landmark effort will produce the first definitive study of how much overpayment o·ver·pay v. o·ver·paid , o·ver·pay·ing, o·ver·pays v.tr. 1. To pay (a party) too much. 2. To pay an amount in excess of (a sum due). v.intr. To pay too much. is in California's workers' compensation system, where the problems are occurring geographically, and what kinds of fraud and abuse are driving the costs to the system,'' Zachry wrote. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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