At ARAWC’s recent annual meeting, the Association reconfirmed its #1 Key Strategic Objective of protecting and promoting Texas injury benefit programs.

With the November elections behind us and the next session of the Texas legislature on the horizon, ARAWC remains steadfast in its message to elected officials, regulators and other public policy makers that the Texas model for employee injury compensation and recovery is the gold standard.

On December 3, the Division of Workers’ Compensation published their 2018 Biennial Report to the Texas Legislature which outlines their views of how the system is performing, as well as legislative recommendations for improving the Texas system. After publicly indicating a possible push by the Division for increased Texas nonsubscriber reporting requirements, ARAWC met with several influential employer associations about the importance of protecting the Texas Model.  ARAWC is proud to announce that the Division did not make any such recommendation in its Biennial Report.

The Division ultimately had this to say in the Biennial Report about the Texas Model: “Texas remains a model for other state workers’ compensation systems because of its ability to identify and implement targeted reforms designed to not only reduce system costs, but also improve outcomes for injured employees. Because the system continues to produce favorable results for Texas employers and employees, significant legislative changes to the Texas workers’ compensation system are not recommended at this time.”

While we must continue to be vigilant, ARAWC members have cleared a big hurdle for possible legislative action increasing regulation on nonsubscribing employers, and we are positioned well to prevent bad legislation from passing in the next legislative session.