New Revised Rules of Practice and Procedure, Effective January 1, 2020

On December 17, 2019 the final version of revisions to the Rules of Practice and Procedure contained in Title 8, Sections 10300 to 10999, of the California Code of Regulations, were filed with the Secretary of State of California, after an opportunity for consideration of public comments.  The revised Rules of Practice and Procedure go into effect as of January 1, 2020.    When the period for public comment was announced, the stated purpose of the revisions was as follows: 

“WCAB is reworking the organizational structure of the Rules which were initially adopted in 1966, as they no longer accommodate the number and complexity of Rules adopted in the modern era. The reorganization is intended to do the following:

• Organize articles to reflect the order of events in a case
• Eliminate duplicative rules
• Break up complex rules
• Simplify and modernize language of rules for clarity
• Create additional space between rules, so that additional rules can be added without the need for decimals.” (DIR Newsline Number 2019-50)

The complete final version of the revised Rules of Practice and Procedure can be viewed here.