Governor Kasich and the Administrator of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC), Steve Buehrer, recently announced a proposal to pay $1 billion in rebates to private employers and public-taxing districts that pay into Ohio’s workers’ compensation system.
Under this proposal, about 210,000 private businesses and public entities would receive approximately 56% of their annual premium in the July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 policy period. If the BWC board of directors approves this proposal, checks could be mailed as early as June.
The BWC has also announced its intention to ask the legislature for permission to move to a prospective premium payment system instead of the current retrospective system. This means that employers would pay in advance of their coverage periods instead of after them. The BWC board will be asked to approve $900 million in transition costs to keep employers from having to pay two periods of premiums at the same time.
This $1.9 billion proposal is possible due to larger-than-expected BWC fund balances generated by strong investment management. The BWC’s net assets have grown to $8.3 billion, which is in excess of the target funding ratio of assets to liabilities established by the BWC board in 2008.