H. B. 2768
(By Delegate Rowe)
[Introduced March 29, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article two, chapter
twenty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to workers'
compensation generally; providing for classification of
industries; providing for duties of commissioner; requiring
accurate accounting; providing for establishing premium
rates; allowing or rate adjustment; prohibiting retroactive
rate adjustment; providing standards of rate calculation;
allowing for alternate calculation of rates based on degree
of hazard; and requiring notification of rate changes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article two, 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 2. EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES SUBJECT TO CHAPTER;
EXTRATERRITORIAL COVERAGE.
§23-2-4. Classification of industries; accounts; rate ofpremiums.
The commissioner shall distribute into groups or classes the
employments subject to this chapter, in accordance with the
nature of the business and the degree of hazard incident thereto.
And the commissioner shall have has power, in like manner, to
reclassify such these industries into groups or classes at any
time, and to create additional groups or classes. The
commissioner may make necessary expenditures to obtain
statistical and other information to establish the classes
provided for in this section.
The commissioner shall keep an accurate account of all money
or moneys paid or credited to the compensation fund, and of the
liability incurred and disbursements made against same; and an
accurate account of all money or moneys received from each
individual subscriber, and of the liability incurred and
disbursements made on account of injuries and death of the
employees of each subscriber, and of the receipts and incurred
liability of each group or class.
In compensable fatal and total permanent disability cases,
other than occupational pneumoconiosis, the amount charged
against the employer's account shall be such that sum as is
estimated to be the average incurred loss of such those cases to
the fund. The amount charged against the employer's account in
compensable occupational pneumoconiosis claims for total
permanent disability or for death shall be such that sum as is
estimated to be the average incurred loss of such occupationalpneumoconiosis cases to the fund.
It shall be is the duty of the commissioner to fix and
maintain the lowest possible rates of premiums consistent with
the maintenance of a solvent workers' compensation fund and the
creation and maintenance of a reasonable surplus in each group
after providing for the payment to maturity of all liability
incurred by reason of injury or death to employees entitled to
benefits under the provisions of this chapter. A readjustment of
rates shall be made yearly on the first day of July, or at any
time the same may be necessary. Provided, That on and after the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, the
commissioner shall, at least thirty days prior to the first day
of the quarter to which an adjustment of rates is to be
applicable, file a schedule of the readjusted rates with the
office of the secretary of state for publication in the state
register pursuant to article two, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code: Provided, however, That from the effective date of this
section to the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-one, the commissioner shall be permitted to retroactively
readjust rates to the first day of the quarter within which
notice of the readjustment is given. If the commissioner elects
to readjust the base rates for the various industrial
classifications, the commissioner shall file a schedule of the
readjusted base rates for each industrial class with the office
of the secretary of state for publication in the state register
pursuant to article two, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. Theschedule shall be filed at least thirty days prior to the first
day of the quarter to which an adjustment of rates is to be
applicable. If the commissioner elects to readjust the
individual merit rates for the subscribers to the fund, the
commissioner shall provide notice of merit rate adjustments to
the affected employers at least thirty days prior to the first
day of the quarter to which an adjustment of rates is to be
applicable. The commissioner may not retroactively adjust rates
except in instances of fraud, mistake or reliance upon incorrect
information furnished by the employer. The determination of the
lowest possible rates of premiums within the meaning hereof and
of the existence of any surplus or deficit in the fund shall be
predicated solely upon the experience and statistical data
compiled from the records and files in the commissioner's office
under this and prior workers' compensation laws of this state for
the period from the first day of June, one thousand nine hundred
thirteen, to the nearest practicable date prior to such
adjustment:
Provided, further
That any expected future return,
in the nature of interest or income from invested funds, shall be
predicated upon the average realization from investments to the
credit of the compensation fund for the two years next preceding.
Any reserves set up for future liabilities and any commutation of
benefits shall likewise be predicated solely upon prior
experience under this and preceding workers' compensation laws
and upon expected realization from investments determined by the
respective past periods, as aforesaid.
The commissioner may fix a rate of premiums applicable alike
to all subscribers forming a group or class, and such the rates
shall be determined from the record of such the group or class
shown upon the books of the commissioner:
Provided,
That if any
group has a sufficient number of employers with considerable
difference in their degrees of hazard, the commissioner may fix
a rate for each subscriber of such the group, such the rate to be
based upon the subscriber's record on the books of the
commissioner for a period not to exceed three years ending
December thirty-first of the year preceding the year in which the
rate is to be effective; and the liability part of such the
record shall include such those cases as that have been acted
upon by the commissioner during such the three-year period,
irrespective of the date the injury was received; and any
subscriber in a group so rated, whose record for such the period
cannot be obtained, shall be given a rate based upon the
subscriber's record for any part of such the period as may be
deemed just and equitable by the commissioner; and the
commissioner shall have has authority to fix a reasonable minimum
and maximum for any group to which this individual method of
rating is applied, and to add to the rate determined from the
subscriber's record such an amount as is necessary to liquidate
any deficit in the schedule as to create a reasonable surplus.
It shall be is the duty of the commissioner, when the
commissioner changes any rate, to notify every employer affected
thereby of that fact and of the new rate and when the same takeseffect. It shall is also be the commissioner's duty to furnish
to each employer yearly, or more often if requested by the
employer, a statement giving the name of each of the employer's
employees who were paid for injury and the amounts so paid during
the period covered by the statement.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to delete obsolete
language and require the commissioner of Workers' Compensation to
notify employees of readjustments to individual merit rates
thirty days prior to the beginning of the quarter in which the
readjusted rates will be applicable.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.