The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI) has good news for the state’s employers: a 6.7% decrease in workers’ comp premium rates.

Arizona joins most of the US in easing the cost of comp coverage for employers, with the DIFI announcing the 12th (yes, 12th) consecutive year of rate reduction. The DIFI takes its rate-setting cues from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which advises most US states.

Yet, one state over, California’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) imposed an 8.7% rate increase on employers, defying the national trend of falling rates.

With insurers’ comp profits on the rise, most states struggle to justify squeezing employers for higher premiums. Not so in California, where the WCIRB insists insurers need more money based on “research” that shows cracks under scrutiny.