The board of California’s State Compensation Insurance Fund announced plans to distribute a $105 million dividend to qualifying policyholders with policies that took effect between Jan. 1 and Aug. 19.

This dividend equals roughly 15% of the estimated annual premium reported in State Fund’s mid-year 2019 financial statement and averages out to roughly $1,400 per employer.

State Fund’s Board will consider dividends again for the remainder of the 2019 policy year at its February meeting in 2020.

State Fund is reporting over $662.5 million in premium and over $78.6 million in realized capital gains through July of this year.

State Fund said it has implemented several initiatives over the past few years that have led to improved claims outcomes for injured workers and employers. These efforts, combined with the general improvement in the California workers’ comp environment, have led to a significant decrease in the cost of its claims, according to State Fund.

“Declaring a dividend at this time helps tens of thousands of California businesses better understand their workers’ compensation insurance costs for the year and plan accordingly,” Vern Steiner, State Fund’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Thanks to effective investment management and improved claims outcomes, we are in a strong, stable financial position and want to return money to our policyholders as quickly as possible.”

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