Legislative Action                                                    

Anyone looking for an indication that Republicans have indeed grabbed the reins in the Illinois Senate need only look at tort reform efforts this spring. While they eventually were killed in the Democrat-dominated House, these measures received a bit more attention than usual this year.

According to Brenda Trolin of the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures, tort reform efforts have picked up steam in several states this year. Insurance companies saw greatly improved odds of enacting reforms in the areas of punitive damages, product liability and medical liability, and so have sent out their lobbyists with a vengeance, Trolin said.

During the 18 years that Democrats held power in the Senate, such efforts generally were billed as losing causes in that chamber. But this year, efforts to install caps on medical malpractice awards, revoke the Structural Work Act and revise product liability laws were passed out of the state Senate. Of course, the fact that Gov. Jim Edgar, Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-23, Wood Dale) and powerful, wealthy lobbying groups all had listed the measures among their top priorities shortly after the legislature convened didn't hurt the little progress they did make. Property tax cap initiatives may have been the subject of more headlines, but these "other caps" were kept in the news as well.

"Reform is ... long overdue in [an] area vital to economic development and quality of life in Illinois," the governor said in his State of the State message in January. "We need to move now despite the opposition of some special interests to change laws in the product liability and medical malpractice areas. We can and should compensate victims. But the tort system today is out of whack, needlessly draining profits from business, boosting prices for consumers and limiting access to physicians in order to fatten the wallets of a few lawyers."

One such initiative was House Bill 1432. Sponsored by Rep. Tom Ryder (R-97, Jerseyville), the measure called for a $250,000 cap on "non-economic" losses in medical malpractice, product liability and work-related injury cases. While it failed to pass out of House committee, identical legislation (Senate Bill 344) emerged successfully from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"We knew these were going to stall in the House," said Sen. Tom McCracken (R-41, Downers Grove), sponsor of the Senate effort. "We hope this will approach the beginnings of a dialogue with the House leaders."

He said he didn't think tort reform would figure into end-of-session negotiating between the governor and four legislative leaders. "Frankly, I think it's going to have to be in the long term. But I think it shows we're committed and that we can put together the legislation and pass it out of the Senate. Actually, in the short term we may see it happen at the federal level, quite unintentionally. There's lots of talk about health care reform and none about tort reform."

Added Sen. Dan Cronin (R-39, Elmhurst): "We may just have to wait until the Republicans pick up some more seats in the [Illinois] House."

Of course, behind the superficial Democrat vs. Republican struggles are the battles between competing interest groups. For instance, when it comes to changing or retaining state policy on medical malpractice awards, the state's trial lawyers and doctors and hospitals are pulling many of the strings. Doctors obviously want to see a reduction in their malpractice insurance premiums, which are kept high by the possibility of huge economic settlements in malpractice cases. Trial lawyers, meanwhile, want potential clients to be able to reap huge rewards (and thus be able to pay huge attorney bills) in these cases.

Both groups hold pleny of clout in the

Mini-agenda agreement for Workers' Compensation When it comes to issues that inspire party-line battles within the legislature, workers' compensation is among the most volatile. Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-23, Wood Dale) has been especially vocal on this matter, making it clear he believes Illinois' business climate has suffered at the hands of state lawmakers. "You have to remember that we're in competition with Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin," Philip said shortly after being elected to head the Senate. "Their workman's comp rates are much lower than ours. It gives the other states an unfair advantage in attracting business. "We should be competitive but we're not," he said. "We still have one of the top 10 highest workman's comp rates in the country when we should be in the middle." This year, several bills were introduced in an attempt to revise the state's Workers' Compensation Act — although few items on business or labor lobbyists' wish lists came to fruition. With one chamber of the General Assembly headed by management-friendly lawmakers and the other ruled by those with employee-friendly sympathies, it must have been difficult for either group to foresee a clear-cut victory on controversial measures. But in a spirit of compromise, the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, representating business, and the AFL-CIO, representing labor interests, put their heads together and came up with a joint mini-agenda presented to legislative leaders in mid-May. The final proposals, said Sue Altman, AFL-CIO spokeswoman, "were relatively small things." They are: a request for $225,000 to fund an Industrial Commission data base that would supply such information as workplace deaths per year in Illinois and the length of time injured parties must wait before receiving workers' compensation benefits; $150,000 to develop a hospital price database to include information on outpatient care costs in workers' comp cases; $93,000 to provide handbooks to all injured workers, and a measure that would set a new course for the Industrial Commission — one that would enable it to play a more pro-active role to prevent workplace injuries. Jennifer Halperin

June 1993/Illinois Issues/33

Legislative Action                                                    

legislature, thanks in part to the enormous campaign contributions they bestow upon lawmakers. According to a study by Professors Kent Redfield and Jack Van Der Slik of Sangamon State University's Institute of Public Affairs, the Illinois Trial Lawyers topped the list of campaign contributors to legislative leaders and House and Senate political committees during the 1990 election cycle. The group's contributions totalled $204,000. The Illinois Medical Society, on the other side of the issue, was third on the list, distributing contributions of $131,000; the Illinois Hospital Association ranked 11th, with contributions of $81,000.

Other heavy-hitting contributors teamed up with either the doctors or trial lawyers. Among those siding with the doctors — and interested in limiting product liability awards — was the Illinois Manufacturers' Association. (Contributions of $113,000 ranked them fourth in the Redfield/Van Der Slik study.)

While not among the top-25 contributors, groups siding with the trial lawyers — such as the AFL-CIO and the Illinois State Bar Association — are rather well-known around the Capitol.

Another failed effort was Senate Bill 2, which would have repealed the Structural Work Act and thereby limited certain lawsuits filed by workers injured on construction sites. From the time he took over the Senate presidency, Philip had targeted this measure, arguing that injured workers already have redress under workers' compensation.

Senate Bill 3, which also died in House committee, would have limited punitive damages in product liability suits to three times the actual damages. Among other things, it also would have required plaintiffs in those cases to obtain an expert opinion that a product was unreasonably dangerous and a likely cause of the plaintiffs injury. Opponents of the measure argued such requirements would dramatically increase consumers' legal costs.

Although these efforts ultimately were unsuccessful, the changing power structure within the legislature ensure they'll eventually end up on the bargaining table. If future elections yield continued Republican gains and the governor continues to be Republican, Illinoisans shouldn't be surprised to see some type of tort reform in the not-too-distant future. 

34/June 1993/Illinois Issues