I am a partner in a small business that has been operating in North Dakota for 81 years. I have been associated with this business for 29 years. I have interacted with Workforce Safety and Insurance and its forerunner The North Dakota Workers' Compensation Bureau. The latter had a director appointed by the governor. Currently a board of directors selects the CEO.

I will tell you there is no comparison, or perhaps there is. Under the current system claims processed within 14 days are up nearly 20 percent from previous levels. Timeliness of medical payments has improved 4-fold. Litigation by claimants has dropped more than 75 percent. The way I view it those are significant improvements. Probably the one thing that has not changed is who is complaining.

I can tell you from experiences our employees have had that there is not a whole lot they have complained about. We have had a couple of major injuries over the years and numerous minor ones. The only complaints I have heard from our employees came from a couple of people that were not the most motivated. WSI paid on some claims that we felt were not worthy of payment. So much for the argument that business always gets its way with WSI and WSI is out to shaft the worker.

There are those who say that some benefits paid by WSI are too low. Those benefit levels are set by the legislature. A study was presented during the last legislative session comparing benefit levels of surrounding states. North Dakota was near the top in many categories. It would be my guess that those rates will be reviewed and adjusted by the legislature.

I remember the last 10 years in which the governor appointed the director. Premiums went up 500 percent. Service was poor. The system was basically insolvent. If it had been a private business, it would have been shut down.

I, for one, don't want to go back to that type of system again. I encourage you to vote no on Measure 4.