Plan letting state dump comp fund advances

Senators on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would allow the state government to dump its Workers Compensation Fund policies and either self-insure or go out to bid on its huge worker-injury insurance.

Workers compensation has been a sore point in the state for five years. And a Utah Supreme Court decision last year slammed the door on the fund's $50 million offer to the state — an offer rejected first by former Gov. Mike Leavitt and then by former Gov. Olene Walker.

HB72 by Rep. Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt, is half of the solution to the fund, said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who failed to amend HB72 to reflect a differing view of what to do with the fund.

Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, said he doesn't know if the state should get out of the fund or stay but added that HB72 gives the state the flexibility to decide whether to leave the fund.