JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation Wednesday that aims to solidify the state’s crippled Second Injury Fund for worker’s compensation.

The bill, the governor said, seeks to shore up the fund by authorizing a supplemental surcharge on businesses at less than three percent of their workers’ compensation premiums and by making several changes to the scope of the Second Injury Fund’s coverage.

“I appreciate the bipartisan efforts of lawmakers and stakeholders to craft a fair solution to a difficult, complex and long running-problem,” Nixon said in a statement. “Shoring up the Second Injury Fund will provide long-overdue certainty to businesses and security to injured workers. I thank Senator Scott Rupp and Representative Todd Richardson for their work to get this bill to my desk, and am pleased to make it law with my signature today.”

Rupp, the bill’s chief architect in the Senate, said in a brief interview on Wednesday that he spoke with Nixon earlier this week, at which time Nixon said he was going to sign the bill.

“It is nice to get it done,” he said.

Rupp spent a significant portion of his legislative time earlier in the year working with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, business groups, and Attorney General Chris Koster on working out a plan with which all parties could get on board. Once he solidified the framework, Rupp said he was confident at the time that the bill would move forward.

“We’ve got this money starting to kick in this [budget] year and people are going to start getting paid, and it is going to resolve itself over the next couple years,” he said.

In a statement, Koster praised Rupp and Richardson’s work on the issue, as well as Nixon’s signature.

“The insolvency of the Fund means that the state has been unable to pay more than 1,380 Missourians the awards to which they are entitled, totaling over $32 million. This law allows the state to begin the process of providing relief to these injured workers,” he said.