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Introduced Version Senate Bill 549 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 549

(By Senators Bowman, Foster, Bailey, Hunter and Kessler)

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[Introduced February 1, 2008; referred to the Committee on Labor; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §21-1D-1, §21-1D-2 and §21-1D-3, all relating to requiring employers working on public improvement projects to show at least eighty percent of the employees working on the project, or at least eighty percent of the hours worked on the project, will be by employees who are covered by a policy of health insurance.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated §21-1D-1, §21-1D-2 and §21-1D-3, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1D. HEALTH INSURANCE FOR EMPLOYEES.
§21-1D-1. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "Construction" means any construction, reconstruction, improvement, enlargement, painting, decorating or repair of any public improvement let to contract, but does not include temporary or emergency repairs.
(b) "Construction industry" means that industry which is composed of employees and employers engaged in construction of buildings, roads, highways, bridges, streets, alleys, sewers, ditches, sewage disposal plants, waterworks, airports and all other structures or works whether private or public on which construction work as defined in subsection (a) of this section is performed.
(c) "Employee" means any person hired or permitted to perform hourly work for wages by a person, firm or corporation in the construction industry, but does not include individuals engaged in making temporary or emergency repairs, independent contractors or
salaried supervisory personnel necessary to assure efficient execution of the employee's work.
(d) "Employer" means any person, firm or corporation employing one or more employees on any public improvement and includes all contractors and subcontractors.
(e) "Health insurance" means any of the following plans or policies providing basic and major medical coverage:
(1) "Group health plan" or "health benefit plan" as defined in section one-a, article sixteen, chapter thirty-three of this code;
(2) A policy provided by a carrier licensed under chapter thirty-three of this code providing "accident and sickness insurance" as defined in section two-a, article fifteen, chapter thirty-three of this code;
(3) A health benefit plan offered by a "Health Maintenance Organization" or "HMO", as defined in section two, article twenty-five-a, chapter thirty-three of this code; or
(4) A health benefit plan offered by one or more employers, including a self-insured plan, created pursuant to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, as amended, or a multiemployer plan, created pursuant to the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947.
(f) "Public authority" means any officer, board or commission or other agency or political subdivision of the State of West Virginia authorized by law to enter into a contract for the construction of a public improvement, including any institution supported, in whole or in part, by public funds of the State of West Virginia or its political subdivisions.
(g) "Public improvement" means all buildings, roads, highways, bridges, streets, alleys, sewers, ditches, sewage disposal plants, waterworks, airports and all other structures upon which construction may be let to contract by the State of West Virginia or any political subdivision, and includes projects for which expenditures are made, in whole or in part, from public funds.
§21-1D-2. Policy declared.
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of West Virginia that workers on public improvement projects should be provided health care insurance as a benefit of employment.
§21-1D-3. Insurance requirements.
On and after the first day of July, two thousand eight, no person, firm or corporation engaged in the construction industry may enter into a contract with a public authority for the construction of a public improvement project of an aggregate value of five hundred thousand dollars or more including labor and materials, without establishing in writing to the public authority's satisfaction that at least seventy-five percent of the employees working on the project are covered by a policy of health insurance.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that workers on public improvement projects be provided health care insurance as a benefit of employment.

This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.
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