Senator Carole Migden’s bill would ban doctors and insurance companies from considering age, race and gender when determining compensation for workers injured on the job. Migden says a 2004 law supported by Governor Schwarzenegger allows disability awards to be reduced based on those factors.   

She says that amounts to discrimination.  But supporters of the measure say the law simply allows insurance companies to reduce benefits based on pre-existing medical conditions.  They say that is one of many reasons costs have been reduced for employers.

A spokeswoman for Governor Schwarzenegger says he has not taken a position on Migden’s measure.  But he stands by the reforms.