From Gilbert Chan's Sacramento Bee (link unavailable) article:

"Workers' comp has seen the last of John L. Burton," the then-Senate president pro tem said after hammering out a sweeping compromise package with the governor.

He lied.

Today, Burton has resurfaced along with influential lawyers, doctors and labor leaders to protest the way the workers' compensation overhaul will be enforced. The renewed fervor comes 12 months to the day after a jubilant Schwarzenegger signed the landmark bill, SB 899, and bid "hasta la vista" to the ills that plagued the state-run program to treat job-related injuries.

Over the next eight days, workers' compensation will take center stage again in a flurry of protests and regulatory and legislative hearings. At stake are summer insurance rates paid by employers and the job of a key Schwarzenegger appointee charged with carrying out the workers' compensation overhaul that the governor considers a cornerstone of his economic recovery strategy.

"The unions and the disability groups have learned that demonstrations work with this governor. They are saying, 'It's not over; you haven't fixed it,' " said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento.

On tap:

* Around California today, hundreds of demonstrators - many of whom are injured workers - are boarding more than a dozen buses for rallies outside the Capitol in Sacramento and the Ronald Reagan state building in downtown Los Angeles. The demonstrations are spearheaded by the California Labor Federation and Voters Injured at Work, a political action group backed by the California Applicants' Attorneys Association. Another coalition of injured workers plans to protest outside an insurance company office in Rancho Cordova.

* On Monday in San Francisco, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi will consider an industry group's recommendation for a 10.4 percent rate cut in July - one of the largest proposed by the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California.

Since January 2004 - when the first of a series of workers' compensation laws took effect - Garamendi has urged insurers to reduce rates about 24 percent. Carriers, though, have been slower to follow suit, reducing rates 13.9 percent to 16.6 percent.

* In a political showdown on April 27, the Senate Rules Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Andrea Hoch, administrative director of the Division of Workers' Compensation. Appointed by Schwarzenegger in April 2004, Hoch can serve one year without Senate confirmation.

Labor leaders and groups for injured workers are trying to oust Hoch, a former state prosecutor, over the new rules that dictate how medical treatment and disability benefits are determined.

In a pre-emptive move Monday, Hoch released a progress report on SB 899 and predicted that by late 2005, employers will see insurance rates fall by more than 26 percent from their 2003 peak if carriers pass along all the recommended rate cuts.

"Drafting these regulations is a vital part of implementing the reforms," Hoch said in a statement.

But two weeks ago, Burton assailed Hoch for her proposed regulations to decide permanent disability benefits. He said he felt "betrayed" because the legislation wasn't meant to cut benefits or deny treatment for severely injured workers."