NO WORKERS' COMP REFORM

For the third year in a row, the Missouri General Assembly will adjourn this Friday without any significant action on the biggest cost item for Missouri business: workers' compensation reform. Bills proposing comprehensive reforms of the kind that many other states have enacted died without even making it to the floor of either the House or Senate.

This is all the more regrettable given the fact that both measures enjoyed broad bipartisan support. This $1 billion cost item needn't be a partisan issue. But as long as an unholy alliance between personal-injury lawyers and Big Labor bosses has a veto over the support of Gov. Mel Carnahan and the Democratic leaders in both houses of the Legislature, Missourians can expect more of the same inaction and excuses. We also risk falling further behind in the ever-more competitive race for jobs and a healthy economic climate, both among businesses choosing a new site for a plant, and for existing businesses looking to expand.