FINAL BILL REPORT

                  HB 2628

                          C 47 L 96

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Revising provision on payment of industrial insurance benefits to beneficiaries.

Sponsors:  Representatives Veloria, Conway and Cody.

House Committee on Commerce & Labor

Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce & Trade

Background:  If an injured worker suffers a permanent partial injury and dies of an unrelated cause before receiving his or her permanent partial disability award or dies before receiving a monthly benefit installment covering a period before the death, the surviving spouse or children of the worker are entitled to the award or installment owing to the worker.  The spouse or children also receive the time loss benefits covering the period before an injury-related death that were not received by the worker before death. 

These benefits are not paid, however, to the spouse or children if the injured worker resided in the United States for as long as three years before the injury and the spouse or children were not residents of the United States at the time of injury.

Summary:  The industrial insurance law's limitation on the payment to nonresident beneficiaries of permanent partial disability awards and monthly benefits owing to the injured worker prior to the worker's death is repealed.  The limitation will no longer apply that prohibits these payments to a surviving spouse or child who was not a resident of the United States at the time of the worker's injury when the worker had resided in the United States for at least three years before the injury.

Votes on Final Passage:

House     98 0

Senate    46 0

Effective:  June 6, 1996