Showdown Due On Farm Workers’ Comp Last-Ditch Effort Planned To Sidetrack Bill To Lift Agriculture’s Exemption For Paying Insurance For Workers

It’s showdown time in the Idaho House on the bill to lift agriculture’s exemption from the state’s workers compensation law.

Early in the week, Republican Rep. Bruce Newcomb of Burley will lead a last-ditch effort to sidetrack legislation to end agriculture’s 79-year exemption from the law requiring almost all other employers to provide insurance coverage for their workers.

If it becomes law, sponsors estimate up to 35,000 farm workers would be covered.

The Senate passed the bill 30-5 last month and the House Human Resources Committee voted 11-1 on Thursday to send the measure to the full House.

Rep. Maynard Miller, R-Moscow, called that action a milestone.

“We’re at a key point in Idaho history,” he told committee members.

But the measure still has to win on the House floor. Last session, the House voted 47-23 against a different proposal to repeal the agriculture exemption.

Newcomb, House majority floor leader and a farmer-rancher, will try to put the bill up for amendment to add what’s being called the “either-or” provision.

It would say that a farmer can meet requirements of the law either by signing up for state workers compensation coverage or by providing private insurance with equal or better protection.

If Newcomb wins the showdown and the bill is amended, it would have to go back to the Senate for approval of the changes. Gov. Phil Batt already has announced those changes are not acceptable to him.

Batt has been putting all his influence into getting the bill passed. Late Friday, his aides said they had firm commitments from 43 House members for the bill. It was less clear whether the same number would hold firm against the attempt to amend.

Depending on how many vote, 43 yes votes would be up to seven votes more than needed to pass the bill.

Newcomb’s alternative calls for farmers to have liability insurance, life insurance of at least $50,000 and at least limited health insurance for their workers. He contends that for a ranch employee making $20,000 per year, workers compensation coverage would cost $2,116 per year.

For $1,138, Newcomb said he could offer his workers private disability insurance, $50,000 term life insurance, medical coverage and employer’s liability insurance, offering the worker up to $5,000 for on-the-job injury.

At that price, the worker would have a $1,000 deductible on the medical insurance policy and would have to pay 20 percent of all costs over that to a maximum of $3,500 per year.

Although all the attention will be on the main bill, some lawmakers expect a big battle over accompanying legislation designed to lower the cost of insurance by limiting third-party liability claims.

As written, it would cover all employers, not just farmers and ranchers. But the Human Resources Committee rejected efforts to amend that bill to make it only apply to farmers and ranchers.

Thanks to a huge push in both chambers last week, the 1996 session moves into what legislative leaders hope will be the last two weeks with more bills passed than any recent session to the same date.

By Friday, 786 bills and resolutions had been introduced, 157 more than last year at this date.

The House and Senate had passed 287 bills. Last year by the same date the count was 183.

The Senate this week will begin work on the House-approved 4-cent-per-gallon increase in the fuel tax and increases in registration fees for light trucks and cars. Together, the tax increases are expected to generate $34 million per year for highway and bridge construction.