Senate Bill No. 641
(By Senator Oliverio, Prezioso, McKenzie, Kessler, Edgell,
Bowman, Sharpe, Minard, Ross, Snyder and Unger)
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[Introduced February 18, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eight-a, article four, chapter
twenty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the
occupational pneumoconiosis board to meet in Morgantown four
times a year; and requiring testing of occupational
pneumoconiosis claimants in Morgantown four times a year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight-a, article four, chapter twenty-three of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. DISABILITY AND DEATH BENEFITS.
§23-4-8a. Occupational pneumoconiosis board -- Composition; term
of office; duties; quorum; remuneration.
The occupational pneumoconiosis board shall consist of five licensed physicians, who shall be appointed by the commissioner.
No person shall be appointed as a member of the board, or as a
consultant thereto, who has not by special study or experience, or
both, acquired special knowledge of pulmonary diseases. All
members of the occupational pneumoconiosis board shall be
physicians of good professional standing, admitted to practice
medicine and surgery in this state, and two of them shall be
roentgenologists. One of the board shall be designated annually as
chairman by the commissioner. The term of office of each member of
the board shall be six years. The five members of the existing
board in office on the effective date of this section shall
continue to serve until their terms expire and until their
successors have been appointed and have qualified. Any member of
the board may be appointed to any number of terms. The function of
the board is to determine all medical questions relating to cases
of compensation for occupational pneumoconiosis under the direction
and supervision of the commissioner. Any three members of the
board constitute a quorum for the transaction of its business, if
at least one of the members present is a roentgenologist. The
commissioner shall from time to time fix the compensation to be
paid each member of the board, and members are also entitled to
reasonable and necessary traveling and other expenses incurred
while actually engaged in the performance of their duties. In
fixing the compensation of board members, the commissioner shall take into consideration the number of claimants a member of the
board actually examines, the actual time spent by members in
discharging their duties and the recommendation of the
compensation programs performance council as to reasonable
reimbursement per unit of time expended based on comparative data
for physicians within the state in the same medical specialties.
The board shall meet in Morgantown at least four times a year
for the purpose of testing claimants for occupational
pneumoconiosis. Notice of the dates of the meetings shall be
provided to occupational pneumoconiosis claimants who desire to
undergo testing in Morgantown instead of Charleston. The board
shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code designed to
insure claimants receive notice sufficiently in advance of testing
times in order to make arrangements to appear for testing.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
require the occupational
pneumoconiosis board to meet in Morgantown four times a year in
order to test occupational pneumoconiosis claimants in Morgantown.
The bill is intended to afford claimants an alternative to testing
in Charleston.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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