Sacramento – May 7, 2025 | MedLegalNews.com – Committee Moves MLFS Update and Cost-of-Living Bills to Suspense File: A key legislative committee has placed several high-profile workers’ compensation and labor-related bills, including a Medical-Legal Fee Schedule (MLFS) reform measure and proposals addressing cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), into the suspense file, effectively halting their progress—for now.
What Is the Suspense File?
The suspense file is a legislative mechanism used by appropriations committees in both chambers of the California Legislature to defer action on bills with significant fiscal impact. Bills placed in suspense are reviewed and either released for a floor vote or held back, typically during a single, high-stakes hearing known as “suspense day.”
MLFS Reform Temporarily Halted
Committee Moves MLFS Update: Among the bills sent to suspense is an anticipated update to the Medical-Legal Fee Schedule, a critical regulatory framework that governs compensation for medical-legal evaluations used in workers’ compensation cases. Stakeholders—including applicant and defense attorneys, Qualified Medical Evaluators (QMEs), and insurers—have closely monitored this bill as it addresses payment reforms and report standards that could reshape QME workflows and costs.
Critics have raised concerns over rising costs and potential delays in medical-legal evaluations, while supporters argue that fair compensation is necessary to maintain a robust network of independent evaluators.
Cost-of-Living Proposals Also Delayed
Also sidelined are multiple bills proposing cost-of-living adjustments to workers’ compensation benefits. These include:
- Automatic COLAs for permanently disabled workers
- Benefit indexing tied to inflation or wage growth
- Provisions to prevent benefit erosion over time due to rising living expenses
Labor groups have championed these reforms as necessary to protect injured workers in a high-inflation economy, while business and insurer groups caution against the long-term fiscal liabilities these changes may impose on the system.
What Happens Next?
The fate of the MLFS update and COLA bills now rests with the appropriations chair and committee leadership. A bill placed in suspense may be revived during the committee’s suspense hearing later in the legislative cycle, typically before fiscal deadlines in May or August. However, many bills never return from the suspense file, especially if they lack strong political backing or have high projected costs.
Policy Implications
The delay in advancing these measures could have long-term effects on workers’ compensation administration, particularly:
- Access to timely and thorough QME evaluations
- Adequacy of wage replacement benefits in an inflationary economy
- Regulatory clarity for medical-legal billing and reporting
Both labor advocates and employer representatives will likely intensify lobbying efforts in the coming weeks to sway decision-makers ahead of suspense day.
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