Nunez Clarifies Comments on Workers’ Compensation Rules, Budget Negotiations

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) issued a "retreat" from a "bold statement" he made on Tuesday when he said that he and some Democratic colleagues planned to delay state budget negotiations unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) restored some benefits to workers' compensation claimants, the Los Angeles Times reports (Nicholas, Los Angeles Times, 4/21).

Nunez on Tuesday called for Schwarzenegger to reverse state rules passed last year, including provisions related to medical care, to implement the workers' compensation reform law (SB 899).

Nunez, speaking at a rally led by the group Voters Injured at Work, said, "When we begin to negotiate the budget this year, we are going to say, 'Governor, before we go any further, we need to put an end to what that law is doing to injured workers" (California Healthline, 4/20).

Nunez on Wednesday said that he misspoke and that he intended to say that he wanted disability benefits to be part of the budget discussion. He said, "I didn't mean to say I was going to hold up the whole budget for it" (Los Angeles Times, 4/21).