While the president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association says Illinois’ governor wants to shift more burden onto taxpayers with workers’ comp reforms, the governor says taxpayers could actually find big savings.

Last week, Governor Bruce Rauner said Speaker Michael Madigan is wrong that further reforms to workers’ compensation would hurt the middle class. Rauner said the only ones who would be hurt are the trial lawyers.

ITLA’s President Perry Browder said the governor is attempting to diminish the rights of injured workers, boost profits for the insurance industry and shift risk and burden onto taxpayers.

However, Rauner said taxpayers could save on the cost of workers’ compensation in the public sector.

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Workers’ compensation is among several reforms items the governor says are needed to make Illinois more business friendly. Leading Democrats say 2011 reforms are bringing costs down but the governor says more needs to be done to make Illinois competitive with other states.