Bill No.: SF0082                     Drafter:  JWL

 

LSO No.:   05LSO-0164                 Effective Date:  7/1/2005

 

Enrolled Act No.:    SEA0077

 

Chapter No.:         185

 

Prime Sponsor:       Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee

 

Catch Title:         Workers' compensation amendments.

 

Subject:   Enacts miscellaneous amendments to the Worker's Compensation Act.

 

Summary/Major Elements:

 

·         Prohibits violating any provision of the act related to determining the assignment of premium rates and:

 

o        Imposes a penalty premium rate on employers for three years following a violation;

 

o        Declares the violation a felony punishable by a fine of up to $50,000.00, imprisonment for up to five years, or both, if the violation is knowing or with deliberate ignorance or reckless disregard of the true facts or requirements of the worker's compensation act.

 

·         Current law excludes from coverage aliens who are not authorized to work by the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services ("OCIS").  This act creates an exception to the exclusion if the employer, when hiring an employee and when that employee is injured, reasonably believed the employee to be authorized to work by the OCIS.

 

·         Current law excludes injuries caused by intoxication or the influence of controlled substances.  This act directs the worker's safety and compensation division to define "intoxicated" and "under the influence of a controlled substance" in its rules and regulations.

 

·         This act describes additional situations in which the claims experience and account of a covered employer will or will not transfer to a successor employer, and directs the division to adopt rules and regulations to identify the respective types of transfers.

 

·         Current law requires the division to review bills for medical care only after the care is provided to an injured worker.  This act authorizes the division, pursuant to its rules and upon request of a health care provider, to preauthorize an injured worker's nonemergency hospitalization, surgery or other medical care.