[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17113]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JUDGE BRUCE Q. MORIN

 Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, today I express my thanks and 
congratulations to a son and servant of my State of Rhode Island. Bruce 
Q. Morin, associate judge of the Rhode Island Workers' Compensation 
Court, has recently retired after a long career in public service.
  I first had the pleasure of getting to know Judge Morin in the early 
1990s, when I was a policy adviser to then-Rhode Island Governor Bruce 
Sundlun. At the time, the Rhode Island worker's compensation system was 
broken and on the verge of insolvency. Costs had risen to unbearable 
levels. Insurers were departing the Rhode Island system. The problem 
seemed politically intractable. And worst of all, the means of 
providing adequate support to injured workers in Rhode Island was in 
danger.
  Well, working together we completely overhauled the system. A central 
component of the overhaul was the creation of Rhode Island's Workers' 
Compensation Court, specifically designed to hear and decide all 
disputes between an injured employee and an employer relating to 
workers' compensation benefits. Governor Sundlun appointed Bruce Morin 
to the court in 1991, the year it was created, and he has dutifully and 
honorably served both the state of Rhode Island and the citizens who 
have come before his bench for 20 years.
  Today, the Rhode Island workers' compensation system stands as a 
national model. Rhode Island has been able to permanently reduce costs, 
stabilize the workers' compensation market, eliminate fraud, protect 
injured workers, and save Rhode Island businesses hundreds of millions 
of dollars. Rhode Island's system now has the lowest average medical 
cost per employee per year in the entire country.
  We owe a great measure of that success to Judge Morin, Chief Judge 
Healey, former Chief Judge Arrigan, and the rest of the court for 
implementation of the law in the best interests of the State of Rhode 
Island.
  From his days serving his country, both with the Judge Advocate 
General Corps of the U.S. Naval Reserve and as an instructor at the 
Naval Justice School in Newport; to his time as a member of the Rhode 
Island State senate; to his distinguished tenure on the Workers' 
Compensation Court, Bruce Morin has been a lifelong public servant.
  After a long and successful career in Rhode Island, I know Judge 
Morin is looking forward to an enjoyable retirement, more hours on the 
links, and more time to share with his two wonderful children Jeffrey 
and Amy. I congratulate him on his many accomplishments and wish him 
great luck and happiness in all his future endeavors.

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