Virginia Rate Hike May Spur Reform Effort

Virginia's recent 9.9% increase in workers' compensation rates for the state's largest industrial class comes as a surprise to many small businesses and might spur legislative reform, a lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business said this week. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Virginia Coal Association said he was "satisfied with the dollar result," if not the methodology, that the Virginia's State Corporation Commission applied to coal classes. The corporation commission announced Jan. 3 that it had cut rates for assigned risk classes and the coal industry, while boosting...