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* From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…
A new safety report ranks Illinois as the second safest state in the country. But one lawmaker says there’s a fine line between safety and being a nanny state.
Illinois gets high marks from the National Safety Council’s latest state-by-state report of its safety laws. Everything from mandatory seatbelt laws to partial credit for a workplace safety mandate. The report even praises Illinois’ workers compensation system for it’s generous payouts and lifetime coverage.
Peoria Sen. Chuck Weaver says he talks to business owners every week who say Illinois shouldn’t be lauded for its workers’ compensation system.
“Right now, they feel that they are being taken advantage of. They feel that the laws are unfair. They feel that there’s a lot of fraud in the system,” Weaver said. “Every one of these [business owners] wants to make sure they are fair to workers. But you can’t have laws in place that allow the system to be taken advantage of. And that’s what we have in the state of Illinois right now.”
Fraud and taking advantage of the system have little to nothing to do with being an allegedly safe place to live. If you want workers to receive less compensation or receive fewer on the job protections, just come out and say it.
The full report is here.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 3:51 pm
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Since the report referenced workers comp, I think his gripe is within the bounds. They broached the subject, opened Pandora’s box if you will.
Comment by Perrid Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 3:55 pm
Reducing fraud, wherever it exists, private or public entities, is a virtue in and of itself. It will not solve pending insolvency, but it will restore some confidence that somebody gives a $&/@ about integrity
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 3:56 pm
NSC is great at expanding regulations - they ask about fire sprinklers for residential housing. A fix to a problem that does not exist; but a huge win for pipe/sprinkler fitters and fire inspectors
Comment by Texas Red Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:02 pm
Why wouldn’t we be proud to be the second safest state in the US? We should be marketing the heck out of that rating, using it to draw smart jobs.
Comment by northsider (the original) Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:04 pm
Workplace health and safety measures are preventative and should help keep workers comp and other costs of injury down.
Those who don’t care if workers get hurt or to shift injured workers from private to public support should just say it.
Comment by Deadbeat Conservative Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:07 pm
Yeah, I’ve never really understood why people (usually conservatives) use “Nanny state” as an insult. ‘How dare the government try to make its citizens lives better. How preposterous. Everyone knows its the survival of the fittest, and if you die then it just proves you were not fit.’
/snark, obviously
I think this is a good thing. On a related note to my snark above, if you check out the grade for all the states, it looks like only blue states got a B grade (there were no As) and no blue state got an F. I could be wrong, I don’t have them all memorized, but its close.
Comment by Perrid Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:09 pm
…they feel that they are being taken advantage of. They feel that the laws are unfair. They feel that there’s a lot of fraud in the system,”
That’s a little of feelings.
Comment by don the legend Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:10 pm
“lot” of feelings. Sorry
Comment by don the legend Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:13 pm
Illinois is safe, with the exception of certain large areas of Chicago.
Comment by OldIllini Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:25 pm
‘NSC is great at expanding regulations - they ask about fire sprinklers for residential housing. A fix to a problem that does not exist; but a huge win for pipe/sprinkler fitters and fire inspectors’
People dying in residential fires is not a problem?
Comment by Morty Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:26 pm
===Fraud and taking advantage of the system have little to nothing to do with being an allegedly safe place to live.===
Neither does “generous payouts and lifetime coverage.”
Comment by KAA-boom Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:28 pm
I think we, as a state, have proven how expensive it is to live in a safe state. I hope my kids appreciate it as they pay it off.
Comment by Blue dog dem Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 4:55 pm
Rich, if he wasn’t going to lie about his agenda, it would never get anything beyond token support.
Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:04 pm
Since we’re so safe, we could be a little less safe, save some money for job creators, and still be safer than most.
/s
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:10 pm
==they ask about fire sprinklers for residential housing. A fix to a problem that does not exist==
Tell that to the residents of the Marco Polo apartments in Hawaii or Grenfell Tower in London.
Comment by Jocko Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:10 pm
Sprinklers are already mandated for newer multi family residences. NSC has been lobbying for mandating them in new single family structures - research shows that working smoke detectors are very effective and that sprinklers are not worth the extra 10,000 plus thousand dollars for an average home
Comment by Texas Red Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:17 pm
Texas Red, because of modern building materials & furniture fires today burn hotter and faster than ever before and there’s plenty of videos out there to demonstrate that. So I don’t know if I would go out there on a limb saying house fires aren’t a problem, unless you want the government to more tightly regulate how homes are built and furnished to make them more fire resistant…
Comment by MyTwoCents Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:24 pm
I like how Senator Weaver gives the insurance companies a pass and simply blames the “laws” and “lawbreakers”.
Comment by Jocko Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:31 pm
If someone wants to install a sprinkler system let him my point is it shouldn’t be mandated
Comment by Texas Red Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 5:37 pm
Texas Red is correct
If sprinklers are such a great idea than let those who want them install them. The problem is when those that think that are great try to have them installed in other people homes.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 7:14 pm
IPI is blowing it.
Their argument is twisted and lousy.
The report lauds Illinois, yet the IPI wants us to accept this report’s facts and hijack it to prove their point.
That’s nutty and sad.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 7:19 pm
Weaver did not use the term nanny state in his comments. He merely pointed out that small business owners are telling him how they see the current work comp system is costing them, often due to fraud. For those who doubt that, please talk with small business owners near you. This has nothing to do with IPI.
Comment by Unnamed source Thursday, Jul 27, 17 @ 9:13 pm
So obviously the state workers who do things for workplace safety are doing a good job.
Maybe we should give them a raise.
I know a person who works for the state doing occupational safety and he is struggling because they state pays him so little. I think he is syep 1C and stuck essentially below entry level pay because of the whole govenor and AFSCME situation.
Comment by Anon Friday, Jul 28, 17 @ 7:51 am
Those who believe that the Illinois workers compensation system is not tough on fraud should re-read Section 25.5 of the Illinois Workers Compensation Act that makes some fraudulent claims a Class 1 felony. That’s a sentence of up to 15 years.
Comment by The Real Just Me Friday, Jul 28, 17 @ 7:57 am
“Those who believe that the Illinois workers compensation system is not tough on fraud should re-read Section 25.5 of the Illinois Workers Compensation Act that makes some fraudulent claims a Class 1 felony. That’s a sentence of up to 15 years.”
Right, if the person making the false claim is already a felon with some type of firearm or aggravated felony on their record, they might actually serve prison time. Class 1 is probationable, in this instance. Good luck obtaining a sentence including prison time on a fraudulent work comp claim. Classic case of white collar crime being treated differently. Start handing out prison sentences for this kind of crime and you might actually see a deterrent effect…but then we’d probably be back under a federal decree for prison overcrowding.
Illinois may be the 2nd safest state, but it’s also King of the unfunded mandate. Texas Red, while cherry-picking his argument, does have a point. Unfunded mandates make this state a costly place to live and do business.
Comment by Downstate43 Friday, Jul 28, 17 @ 8:31 am