As President of MTM, my principle duties are to work with members, help MTM staff and work with the MTM Board of Directors and its Committees. However, there are some other duties that I must budget time for. One of those duties is to monitor insurance regulations and legislative matters. To accomplish this, I spend one or two days a month in Lansing meeting with the insurance association, insurance department and legislators. While nearly all of this designated legislative time deals with workers’ compensation issues, a recent item surfaced that departed from my normal focus. As a Board member and member of the regulatory oversight committee of the Insurance Institute of Michigan, I was made aware of nearly 20 bills that had been submitted for consideration dealing with the Larry Nassar case. As I listened to some of the testimony, I and everyone in the hearing were disgusted with this physician’s actions and the systems that should have caught his criminal activities over many years they occurred.

Most of these bills deal specifically with Larry Nassar and the systems surrounding him, however some bills are not so restricted and will bring other groups/1employers into the mix. Some of the bills being considered dramatically increase the reporting period for sexual misconduct incidents from two or three years to 30 years. Some of the bills change the burden of proof so that a mere allegation can be sufficient to warrant legal action, defense, and ultimately settlements. As defense attorneys look at how they would manage these cases, trying to pull witnesses together and accuracy of testimony (which could be many years or decades old) is daunting.

While MTM usually does not get involved in non-workers’ compensation issues, this case and the possible impact on our over 900 shop owners and managers warranted some involvement. Most recently, more moderate amendments have been considered that open up slightly the reporting period, except for alleged victims under 16. These bills seem to be progressing through the legislative process.

While it is too early yet to tell what exactly will come out of the legislature process, there is no doubt that changes to the existing law will happen.

While our focus continues to be on workers’ compensation and how to maintain and improve cost-effective coverage for our MTM members, occasionally we have to lend our weight to other issues. Protection of our members justifies it. As we learn more, I will bring you up to date on this topic. In the meantime, the MTM staff will continue to focus on providing our members with the most cost-effective and focused services for their workers’ compensation exposure.