The California Legislature is back in town after a month long holiday. Don't get too excited though...they take off again in September for the rest of the year. The old adage that "everyone's life and liberty is at risk as long as the legislature is in session" was never so true as it applies to the tort battle which has returned to Sacramento.

When you think of "tort," you probably think of German Chocolate Cake. The cake, however, is a "torte," while a "tort" is an action that harms someone. Thus a tort is potential lawsuit fodder for trial lawyers: whether it be a routine fender bender or a chemical spill.

Laws are created to set the rules under which injuries are litigated and the legislature has full control! Take for instance the workers compensation system. Created originally as a no-fault system between employer and employer to take the lawyers out of the picture. Well, we all know what happened there: the trial lawyers gradually, over a period of many years, expanded the situations where an injured worker could sue his or her employer. Costs went up dramatically.

The tort battles in the legislature thus pit the trial lawyers, who often work on contingency fees, against business and insurers. This year the fight will be particularly active this month. Lawyers and organized labor that want to expand litigation helped Democrats get their super majority in both houses of the legislature. The lawyers and the unions believe it is time to call in their chits and move their agendas along.

Examples abound in bills being pushed: one would give appellate courts broader authority to review summary judgment dismissals by trial court judges – thus weakening a legal too used by defendants in civil cases...most often businesses.

There are also measures to cut down on arbitration, increase punitive damages and expand product liability lawsuits. Lawyers are also trying to overturn the $250,000 medical malpractice cap, which is the envy of many other states. Interestingly, this was created by a bill that Governor Brown signed....back in 1975.

It all makes wonderful theater...except for the fact that it affects everyone's pocket book and affects the number one job creating engine in our economy: small businesses.

1. Cassidy Arendt,($3,000.00) daughter of Rick and Tamara Arendt of San Diego, Calif.

2 .Dominic Joseph Grisafe ($1,500.00). Son of Dominic and Lora Grisafe of Yucaipa, Calif.

3 Tyler Matthew ($1,000.00). Son of Matt and Catherine Evans of Hemet, Calif.

4. Amanda Ozaki ($1,000.00). aughter of Ross and Gayle Ozaki of Sacramento, Calif.

5. Casandra Stevenson ($1,000.00). Daughter of Bradford Stevenson and Joy Booher (of Newport Exterminating)

6. Kelsey Matzen ($500.00) Daughter of Peter and Susan Matzen of Petaluma, Calif.

The 2012-13 C.A.R.E.S. fundraising raffle was a great success and rose more than $8,000.00 and had three winners totaling $6,000.00. The price of a ticket was the same as last year, but when you sold or bought five tickets at one time you got one free. Our goal was to sell 300 tickets and we got close, we sold 283 tickets and had 69 free tickets for the people or districts that sold or bought 5 or more at one time.

Our usual sales people were out in force and Tamara Tibbett-Arendt sold the most.  She out did her last years number of 53 and sold 68 tickets, which gave her 13 free tickets in the hopper for the drawing.

On Saturday night at the Installation Banquet, all the tickets were mixed up and put in a cloth pillow case and mixed up some more. We drew the 3^rd, then 2^nd place winners and then the 1^st place winner. The winners were:

$1,000.00 Vintage Costal District one of their free tickets.

$2,000.00 Gail Dustin of Dustin PC in Fresno, Calif.

$3,000.00 Barbara young from the Vintage Coastal District.

Thank you for your attention, and WE look forward to next year's raffle that helps ONLY PCOC member companies and/or their families.

Steve Scoville

2013 Raffle Fundraising Chairman

The 2013-2014 Legislative Session of the California Legislature is in progress. Click here for PCOC's Legislative Agenda.

CRAZY ANTS

From the country that gave us Africanized Honey Bees, Brazil has delivered another tough insect – the crazy ant. Named for its erratic trails, this ant is a force to be reckoned with in terms of sheer environmental impact. This omnivorous ant attacks and kills other species as well as monopolizes food sources.

Since its arrival in 2002 in Houston, the crazy ant has displaced fire ants in several places.

"When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back," said Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. "Fire ants are in many ways very polite. They live in your yard. They form mounds and stay there, and they only interact with you if you step on their mound."

Crazy ants, on the other hand, "go everywhere," invading homes and nesting in walls and crawlspaces. They are even attracted to electrical components. In one year, they caused $146.5 million in damages in Texas alone.

The devastation occurs when one ant discovers either wiring or the transformer and gets electrocuted. It waves its abdomen in the air, emitting a certain scent. The sent lures more ants, and they too are electrocuted, sending more attractant into the air. Eventually there are so many dead ants, the electrical switches get stuck or the insulation in wiring fries and the system shuts down.

The Crazy Ant has spread through 20 counties in Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana. Luckily, the crazy ant doesn't spread as quickly as the fire ant, advancing only 650 feet (200 meters) per year on its own, the release noted. Therefore, it's vital that people don't accidentally transport the ant, the prime method by which it has spread.

ILLNESS AND INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAM

Employers in California are required to have an effective written Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). The benefits of an efficient IIPP include improved workplace safety and health, better morale, increased productivity, and reduced costs of doing business. Whether you need to develop a written IIPP or improve your existing IIPP, the State of California's Department of Industrial Relation's website has an e-tool that will help you. This e-tool will produce a written IIPP for you by answering a set of questions. Each of your answers will automatically appear underlined in a written IIPP which is specific to your workplace. To produce a complete written IIPP you must fully answer all the IIPP questions. The written IIPP you produce will not be sent to Cal/OSHA.

There are also Effectiveness Questions for you to evaluate how successful your IIPP is and Sample Forms and Checklists to help you put your IIPP into practice and document what you have done. You will also find other resources from Cal/OSHA on the link.

Remember that an effective IIPP is not just a paper program. For your IIPP to be effective you must fully put it into practice in your workplace. Here is the link: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/etools/09-031/

FUMIGATION COMPANIES COMPETE IN 10TH ANNUAL BANNER CONTEST

Take Care Termite Named 2013 Winner

INDIANAPOLIS — August 6, 2013 — The Pest Control Operators of California (PCOC) is pleased
to announce the winners of the 10th annual Fumigation Banner Bonanza Contest, sponsored by
Dow AgroSciences, the manufacturer of VIKANE^® gas fumigant. The contest recognizes California fumigators for promoting fumigation through signage at fumigation sites.

Take Care Termite of Tracy, Calif. won first place. The judging panel commented that the winning banner was easy to read, had a good layout and used a nice tagline ─ "Let us ‘take care' of what bugs you."

Take Care Termite owner Ray Carrier says he entered the banner contest at the encouragement of his wife and some of his fumigators, and he is glad he did!

The company banner was designed by Carrier's stepdaughter, who enjoys graphic design.
"Winning this is going to make her day," Carrier says. "She came up with the design.

"I'm very excited that we won this year. There have been some really neat banners that have won in the past. We appreciate Dow AgroSciences sponsoring this contest."

Finishing in second place was Advanced Integrated Pest Management of Sacramento, with a banner featuring dead termites with a photo of the company truck. Taking third was a banner from Pest Control Center, Inc., of North Highlands, Calif. The banner proclaims, "Another home protected with Vikane gas fumigant." Fourth place was awarded to Clark Pest Control of San Diego which entered a simple, clear banner in the company's trademark colors.

Participating fumigation companies submitted photos of their banners, which included their business name, logo and contact information. A panel of communications specialists judged the banners on readability from a distance, professionalism, visual impact and attractiveness. Pest control companies with the winning banners will be given prizes in the following amounts: first place, $1,250; second, $1,000; third; $500; and fourth, $250.

"Dow AgroSciences is happy to sponsor the PCOC Banner Contest for the 10^th year," says Heather Kern, Dow AgroSciences product manager for VIKANE gas fumigant. "The contest allows our fumigator partners to exhibit their banners, engage in some friendly competition with their peers and promote the value of structural fumigation with Vikane gas fumigant."

For more information about fumigation with VIKANE, visit http://www.termitetenting.com/.

^®Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow

VIKANE is a federally Restricted Use Pesticide.

Always read and follow label directions.

Photo Caption:

This year's first-place banner was submitted by Take Care Termite of Tracy, Calif.

Welcome to a new section of Newsbriefs! Here we will be giving news from our members: new hires, retirements, etc. If you have some news you would like to share, please send a short sentence or two to jenai@pcoc.org.

Opioid drugs can provide short-term relief to individuals suffering from severe pain. But their high cost and high rates of misuse and abuse can create problems for employers. We have seen the abuse within the PCOC Insurance Program. Read on!

The Problem

Opioid pain relievers (also called narcotics) include morphine, heroin, oxycodone and the synthetic opioid narcotics. Narcotics work by binding to receptors in the brain and blocking the feeling of pain.

The problem of opioid misuse starts in physicians' offices. Medical experts recommend using opioids only for short-term pain relief due to acute conditions such as cancer, when a patient does not respond to other therapies. The National Institutes of Health recommends, "Almost always, you should limit their use to no more than three to four months." However, between 55 and 86 percent of all workers' compensation claimants receive opioids for chronic pain relief, estimated Keith E. Rosenblum, a senior risk consultant with Lockton Companies.

Many studies show that after 90 days of continuous use, opioid treatment is more likely to become lifelong. And long-term use can diminish a person's natural abilities to modulate pain and create a tolerance for the drug. Over time, a person will require higher doses for effective pain relief, which can lead to abuse, addiction and increased risk of overdose.

The number of accidental deaths associated with the use of prescription opioids has increased dramatically since 1999. In fact, the number of accidental deaths resulting from prescription opioid use now exceeds the number of deaths from heroin and cocaine overdoses combined, reported the Centers for Disease Control.

Researchers have also linked long-term opioid use to poor workers' compensation claim outcomes. A study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery in 2009 reported that higher dose levels were associated with higher costs for indemnity and medical costs for disability. Opioid users were also less likely to return to work. Among injured workers completing a functional restoration program, those who were using opioids at the time of admission were half as likely as the users to return to work during the year after treatment.

The Solutions

The American College of Environmental and Occupational Medicine recommends that occupational physicians consider other treatments before prescribing opioids. "...these...may include exercise, topical medications, distractants (e.g., heat), NSAIDs, low-dose heterocyclic anti-depressants, anti-convulsant agents, and self-applied palliative modalities such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)." It also stresses the importance of active exercise and return to work in conjunction with opioid use.

Although medical treatment guidelines recommend periodic drug testing and psychological evaluation for long-term users of opioid drugs, few physicians observe the guidelines. Only 24 percent of long-term opioid users in one study received at least one drug test.

Ideally, treating physicians should screen workers' compensation claimants for prior opioid use before prescribing, since prior use increases the risk of tolerance and addiction. Second, treating physicians should require drug testing at regular intervals to monitor patients for compliance. Are they using the drug, and at the level prescribed? Many opioid users will stop using the drug on their own initiative, while those who become dependent will "doctor shop" and obtain prescriptions from more than one physician.

Better management of prescription painkillers can lead to better coordination of care among multiple providers, earlier intervention with patients at risk of addiction or overdose, and better treatment outcomes. All of these can reduce unneeded costs for employers and make valued workers more likely to return to work after an injury.

For more information on controlling workers' compensation costs, please contact the PCOC Insurance Program department of Jenkins Insurance Services at (877) 860-7378 or, email us @ ProPest@Leavitt.com.

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For an additional charge, you may access a 24-hour hotline providing consultation by qualified medical doctors on pesticide-related medical emergencies. This service is provided free of charge to Peacock Group insureds.