The Democrat-controlled Maine Legislature has approved a number of significant changes to workers' compensation benefits, part of an omnibus reform bill that is now on its way to the governor.

The Labor and Housing Committee, made up of members from upper and lower chambers, voted unanimously Thursday to approve LD 756, after several Republicans agreed to a plan that increases benefits in a number of ways, according to a local news report. On Friday, the full House and then the Senate concurred and endorsed the measure.

With control of both chambers and the governor's office for the first time in eight years, Democrats this year introduced more than two dozen comp bills, designed to improve benefits and duration of benefits for the first time in more than two decades. Many of the reforms were consolidated into the omnibus bill.

Some Republican lawmakers had objected to some of the changes, but agreed late Thursday to the bill after Democrats threatened to push through even more sweeping reforms, the newspaper reported.

The changes include:

• A raise in the maximum weekly benefit, from 100% of the state's average weekly wage to 125%.
• Cost-of-living adjustments of up to 5% for permanent partial disability, after a five-year waiting period.
• A doubling of the time allowed to file a claim, from 30 days after an injury to 60 days.

One provision that labor interests had supported was an increase in the 500-week limit on death benefits. That was removed from the bill that passed the committee last week.