Source: http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb602%20intr.htm&yr=2011&sesstype=RS&i=602
Timestamp: 2018-01-16 08:39:37
Document Index: 561634446

Matched Legal Cases: ['§23', '§23', '§23', '§33', '§23', '§23', '§23', '§33', '§33']

Introduced Version Senate Bill 602 History
Senate Bill No. 602
[Introduced February 21, 2011; referred to the Committee on Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §23-2-1 and §23-2-1b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §23-2C-10 of said code; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-2-21a, all relating to workers’ compensation programs of state government entities and their employees; defining participants and exceptions thereto; including the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol in such coverage; designating the Insurance Commissioner to manage workers’ compensation risks of state entities; creating a purchasing exemption for the program; authorizing commissioner to assess fees; creating a fund in State Treasury; authorizing investment of funds; permitting loan from Insurance Commissioner’s administrative fund to the state entities’ workers’ compensation program fund and repayment to the administrative fund; allowing coverage under assigned risk plan; and authorizing Insurance Commissioner to propose legislative rules and to adopt emergency rules.
That §23-2-1 and §23-2-1b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §23-2C-10 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-2-21a, all to read as follows:
(a) The State of West Virginia and all governmental agencies or departments created by it, including county boards of education, political subdivisions of the state, the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, any volunteer fire department or company and other emergency service organizations as defined by article five, chapter fifteen of this code, and all persons, firms, associations and corporations regularly employing another person or persons for the purpose of carrying on any form of industry, service or business in this state, are employers within the meaning of this chapter and are required to subscribe to and pay premium taxes into the Workers’ Compensation Fund for the protection of their employees and are subject to all requirements of this chapter and all rules prescribed by the Workers’ Compensation Commission with reference to rate, classification and premium payment: Provided, That rates will be adjusted by the commission to reflect the demand on the compensation fund by the covered employer.
(7) Any volunteer rescue squad or volunteer police auxiliary unit organized under the auspices of a county commission, municipality or other government entity or political subdivision; volunteer organizations created or sponsored by government entities, political subdivisions; or area or regional emergency medical services boards of directors in furtherance of the purposes of the Emergency Medical Services Act of article four-c, chapter sixteen of this code: Provided, That if any of the employers described in this subdivision have paid employees, to the extent of those paid employees, the employer shall subscribe to and pay premium taxes into the Workers’ Compensation Fund based upon the gross wages of the paid employees but with regard to the volunteers, the coverage remains optional.
(h) In the event of election under subsection (g) of this section, the employer shall serve upon the commission written notice naming the positions not to be covered and shall not include the "employee's" remuneration for premium purposes in all future payroll reports, and the partner, proprietor or corporate or executive officer is not considered an employee within the meaning of this chapter after the notice has been served. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (g), section five of this article, if an employer is delinquent or in default or has not subscribed to the Fund even though it is obligated to do so under the provisions of this article, any partner, proprietor or corporate or executive officer shall not be covered and shall not receive the benefits of this chapter.
(e) County commissions, municipalities, other political subdivisions of the state, county boards of education, emergency service organizations organized as aforesaid and volunteer fire departments or companies or the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, shall provide for the funds to pay their prescribed premiums into the fund and such premiums and premiums of state agencies and departments, including county boards of education, shall be paid into the fund in the same manner as herein provided for other employers subject to this chapter.
(f) County commissions and municipalities are hereby authorized to pay all or any part of the premiums prescribed for such emergency service organizations organized as aforesaid and such duly incorporated volunteer fire departments or companies or the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, as may provide services within the county or municipality.
(a) The Insurance Commissioner shall provide for the development and administration of an assigned risk plan to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage to employers who are unable to procure coverage in the voluntary market.
(e) In the event the plan incurs a deficit in one or more policy years, the Insurance Commissioner may assess all private carriers providing workers’ compensation insurance in voluntary market funds as are necessary to cover the deficits. The assessments shall result in an equitable distribution of costs among private carriers based upon premiums received by the private carriers in the private market. Assessments made upon the policies of each private carrier pursuant to this section may be collected by each carrier in the form of a surcharge.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol qualifies for coverage under the assigned risk plan.
(1) “Discretionary participant” means the Parkways Authority, offices of the State Auditor, the State Treasurer, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Department of Agriculture, the State Senate and House of Delegates or their related entities, the Supreme Court of Appeals, the State Police and any other spending unit of the state that is required by section twelve, article two, chapter eleven-b of this code to provide a detailed expenditure schedule to the Secretary of Revenue in his or her capacity as Director of the Budget or the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol: Provided, That the term “discretionary participant” does not include any executive state entity other than the State Police and Parkways Authority, any county board of education, any other county entity or its instrumentality or any municipality or its instrumentality.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the commissioner has sole responsibility for managing the workers' compensation risks of all executive state entities and for supervising and controlling the workers’ compensation programs for such entities: Provided, That any discretionary participant may apply to participate in the program, and if approved to do so by the commissioner, may be allowed to participate under the same terms and conditions as are applicable to executive state entities: Provided, however, That the commissioner may remove any such entity from the program for noncompliance with any conditions of participation: Provided further, That a discretionary participant is, in accordance with rules governing the program, permitted to withdraw from continued participation in the program.
(c) The commissioner may assess such fees or surcharges on participants in the program as he or she determines necessary to manage the workers’ compensation risks of those participants.
(e)(1) There is hereby established the “State Entities Workers’ Compensation Program Fund.” All premiums, surcharges, assessments, deposits or any other moneys or funds deposited or otherwise designated or accruing to the fund as well as all earnings payable to it, shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the fund. Expenditures from the fund shall be for the purposes set forth in this section, are authorized from collections, and shall not revert to the General Fund. The fund shall be a separate and distinct fund upon the books and records of the Auditor and Treasurer, and disbursements therefrom shall be made upon requisitions signed by the Insurance Commissioner.
(3) The Insurance Commissioner may borrow funds as is determined necessary from the Insurance Commission Fund, created in section thirteen-b, article three, chapter thirty-three of this code, for the initial operations of the workers’ compensation program for state entities: Provided, That any borrowed funds shall be deposited to the credit of the “State Entities Workers’ Compensation Program Fund”: Provided, however, That these funds shall be repaid, without interest, and redeposited to the credit of the Insurance Commission Fund as determined by the Insurance Commissioner.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a program for managing workers’ compensation coverage of state entities by the Insurance Commissioner, including the West Virginia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
§33-2-21a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.