An Act To Authorize the Certification of Workplace Safety Programs Offered by Workers' Compensation Insurers
Maine Legislature, Session 123, LD 0933
Committee: Labor
Sponsors: WATSON, BRAUTIGAM, FISCHER, MILLS, WOODBURY
Amends: 26 MRSA §42-A, 26 MRSA §61

Legislative Document 
No. 933 
H.P.708 
House of Representatives, March 1,2007 
An Act To Authorize the Certification of Workplace Safety 
Programs Offered by Workers' Compensation Insurers 
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative WATSON of Bath. 
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/J7·mt1£~ 
Mll.LICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: BRAUTIGAM of Falmouth, FISCHER of Presque Isle, 
MILLS of Farmington, WOODBURY of Yarmouth. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 24-A MRS A §2385-C, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1997, c. 592, §67, is 
further amended to read: 
2. Standards for workplace health and safety consultations. The superintendent, 
in consultation with the Department of Labor, may shall adopt, no later than January I, 
2008, rules establishing the standards for approval of workplace health and safety 
consultations provided to employers by insurance carriers, including provision of 
adequate facilities, qualifications of persons providing the consultations, specialized 
techniques and professional services to be used and educational services to be offered to 
employers. The standards must include all of the services offered to employers by the 
Department of Labor under Title 26, section 42-A, subsection 2 to the extent that such 
services contribute to the avoidance and prevention of unsafe or unhealthful working 
conditions in employment. The rules must include a process by which insurers, at their 
request, may be certified by the superintendent as meeting or exceeding the standards. 
Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §42-A, sub-§7 is enacted to read: 
7. Exception. Notwithstanding this section, beginning July 1, 2008, the department 
may decline service to an employer that is insured by an insurer that is certified by the 
superintendent under Title 24-A, section 2385-C, subsection 2 as meeting or exceeding 
the standards for approval of workplace health and safety consultations. 
Sec. 3. 26 MRSA §61, as amended by PL 1999, c. 57, Pt. B, §5, IS further 
amended to read: 
§61. Safety Education and Training Fund 
1. Fund established. To accomplish the objectives outlined in section 42-A, there is 
established in the State Treasury a special fund, known as the Safety Education and 
Training Fund. The safety fund sflal.l must be administered by the commissioner. The 
department shall have has authority over the safety fund and may do all things necessary 
or convenient in the administration of the safety fund and shall formulate and adopt rules, 
pursuant to the Maine Administrative Procedure Act, Title 5, chapter 375, governing its 
administration and maintenance, and perform all other functions whi€fl that the laws of 
this State specifically authorize or whi€fl that are necessary or appropriate. All money 
and securities in the safety fund sflal.l must be held in trust by the Treasurer of State for 
the purpose of funding the safety education and training program under section 42-A and 
sflal.l may not be money or property for the general use of the State. The fund shalt !!.!ill:' 
not lapse. The Treasurer of State shall notify the commissioner and the Legislature of 
interest credited and the balance of the safety fund as of June 30th of each year. 
1-A. Bureau ofInsurance report. On or before July 1st of each year, the Bureau of 
Insurance shall provide to the commissioner the amounts of actual losses, excluding 
medical payments, paid by each workers' compensation individual self-insurer and 
workers' compensation group self-insurer during the previous calendar year. Beginning 
with the report due on or before July 1, 2008, the superintendent shall include in the 
Pag~ 1 - 12JLI~11';3\{}1}-1 
report the names of insurers, if any, that are certified under Title 24-A, section 2385-C, 
subsectian 2 as meeting or exceeding the standards for approvai of workplace health and 
safety consultations. 
2. 
Source of funds. 
The commiSSIOner or the commissioner's designee shall 
annually assess a levy based on actual annual workers' compensation paid losses, 
excluding medical payments, paid in the most recent calendar year for which data is 
available by employers under former Title 39, the Workers' Compensation Act or Title 
39-A, Part 1, the Maine Workers' Compensation Act of 1992. As Except as provided in 
subsection 2-A, as soon as practicable after July 1 st of each year, the commissioner or the 
commissioner's designee shall assess upon and collect from each insurance carrier 
licensed to do workers' compensation business in the State, and each group and individual 
self-insured employer authorized to make workers' compensation payments ciirectly to 
their employees, a sum equal to that proportion of the current fiscal year's appropriation, 
exclusive of any federal funds, for the safety education and training program that the total 
workers' compensation benefits, exclusive of medical payments, paid by each licensed 
carrier or each group or individual self-insured employer, bear to the total of the benefits 
paid by all licensed carriers, and group and individual self-insured employers during the 
most recent calendar year for which data is available, except that the total amount levied 
annually may not exceed 1% ofthe total of the compensation benefits paid by all licensed 
carriers, and group and individual self-insured employers during the most recent calendar 
year for which data is available. A licensed carrier or group or individual self-insured 
must be assessed based on all benefits paid, exclusive of medical payments, during any 
year for which the carrier was licensed or the group or individual self-insured employer 
was authorized to make workers' compensation payments directly to their employers for 
any portion of the year. 
2-A. Exception for certain insurers. Beginning with the first assessment levied 
after July I, 2008 under subsection 2, the commissioner may not assess an insurer that is 
certified as meeting or exceeding the standards for approval of workplace health and 
safety consultations under Title 24-A, section 2385-C, subsection 2. 
3. 
Notice of assessments. 
The Commissioner of Labor or the commissioner's 
designee shall send notice of the assessments by certified mail to each licensed carrier 
and each group or individual self-insured employer. Payment of assessments must be 
received in an office of the Department of Labor designated by the commissioner before a 
date specified in the notice, but not more than 90 days after the date of the mailing. The 
department may, through the rules governing this section, assess penalties for late 
payment. Such penalties may not exceed 6% per year. 
4. Assessments constitute element of loss. The levy assessment constitutes an 
element of loss for the purpose of establishing rates for workers' compensation insurance. 
Funds derived from this levy must be deposited in the safety fund and must be 
appropriated by the Legislature for the operation of this program. 
5. 
Violations. 
Any insurance company, group self-insured aSSOCiation or self-
insured employer subject to this section that willfully fails to pay an assessment in 
accordance with this section commits a civil violation for which a forfeiture of not more 
than $500 may be adjudged for each day payment is not made following the due date. 
SUMMARY 
This bill directs the Superintendent of Insurance to adopt rules establishing the 
standards for approval of workplace health and safety consultations provided to 
employers by insurance carriers. The rules must include a process by which insurers may 
be certified by the superintendent as meeting or exceeding those standards. The bill 
authorizes the Department of Labor to decline providing safety consulting services to 
employers that can obtain comparable services from their insurers and exempts insurers 
that are certified as meeting or exceeding the standards for approval of workplace health 
and safety consultations from the annual assessment by the Department of Labor to fund 
its consultations.