AROUND THE STATEHOUSE

Worker comp cases drop for 3rd year

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., March 24 (UPI) - The number of worker compensation
cases pending before the Illinois Industrial Commission is down for
the third straight year.

Commission Chairman John Hallock Jr. notes the caseload is about 6,
000 claims below 1995, when it reached a record high.

Performance evaluations and temporary hiring of retired arbitrators
have allowed for many cases to be resolved more quickly, or to get
them to trial in a speedier manner.

``This accomplishment shows we are doing everything we can to address
that concern,'' Hallock said.

Also pleased was Gov. George Ryan, who noted the caseload at one point
was increasing by about 4,000 cases each year.

``The backlog had been a perennial problem,'' Ryan
said.

The industrial commission is an administrative division of the Courts
of Illinois, designed to handle worker compensation cases.

About 400,000 work-related accidents occur across Illinois each year,
and about 70,000 of those cases result in claims being filed with the
commission.

Commission arbitrators conduct hearings at 34 sites across Illinois to
deal with issues such as cause of accident, severity of disability and
medical expenses.

Appeals of arbitrator decisions can be heard by a panel of three
commissioners, based either in Chicago or Springfield. ---

HEMP:

Illinois will soon get a commission studying potential uses of
industrial hemp.

The Illinois Senate this week voted 48-6 on a resolution calling for
the study, with state Sen. Todd Sieben, R-Geneseo, arguing about the
potential uses for hemp-made products and the agricultural
implications of a new crop that Illinois farmers could grow.

Industrial hemp, while a biological tie to marijuana, can be used to
make products such as clothing, paper, oil, fiber board and rope.

GRANTS: The Illinois Department of Corrections will receive a $1.2
million grant to pay for improvements to the state's juvenile parole
system.

The grant will allow the Corrections Department to hire 30 more
juvenile parole agents across Illinois. Also, four special agents will
be hired to provide gender specific services and supervision for
girls. Currently, the state has a 1-50 ratio of parole agents to
parolees; the grant will reduce the ratio to 1- 24. ---

Y2K: The Chicago-based Coalition for Consumer Rights wants the General
Assembly to approve a bill making it easier for people who suffer
collection actions, late fees and bad credit because of computer
errors to file lawsuits.

The coalition released a study detailing what it calls potential
problems related to the coming of a new millennium and the potential
that computers will create errors because they will not understand the
passage of time from 1999 to 2000. (Compiled by Gregory Tejeda)