A previous post discussed the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to strike down part of the state's workers compensation laws. In that case, the Court found that the law inappropriately limited the worker's compensation court's ability to consider certain evidence in assessing the degree of a claimant's disability. (According to the Court, the law inappropriately [and unconstitutionally] restricted the worker's compensation court's determination of "impairment" and "disability" to the range of opinions provided by the treating physician and the independent medical examiner.)
The Court's momentous decision has apparently had a significant political response. The decision is the subject of an article in the Tulsa World, (available here and here), where certain lawmakers have "vowed to respond to the opinion." In the article, the paper quotes the Senate Democratic Leader (Mike Morgan) as saying that the legislature will respond in a positive manner in the next legislative session. Sen. James Williamson, who co-chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, believes the ruling will negatively impact the state's ability to recruit businesses, and said it was a "key factor in the workers comp reform bill." Williamson was critical of the Court's decision to strike the statute, noting that "every time we make one step forward the Supreme Court puts us two steps back."
