HOUSE BILL REPORT
HB 1351
As Passed House
March 8, 1993
Title: An act relating to the definition of hospital in regard to self insurers.
Brief Description: Defining hospital in regard to self‑insurers.
Sponsors: Representatives Veloria, Heavey, King and Lisk; by request of Department of Labor & Industries.
Brief History:
Reported by House Committee on:
Commerce & Labor, February 12, 1993, DP;
Passed House, March 8, 1993, 97-0.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & LABOR
Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 9 members: Representatives Heavey, Chair; G. Cole, Vice Chair; Lisk, Ranking Minority Member; Chandler, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Conway; Horn; King; Springer; and Veloria.
Staff: Chris Cordes (786-7117).
Background: Under the state industrial insurance system, hospital employees may be covered through one of two self-insurance groups, one for public hospitals and one for private hospitals. The definition of "hospital" for the purpose of authorizing these groups refers to a statute that was repealed in 1990 with the sunset of the Washington State Hospital Commission.
Summary of Bill: The authority for hospitals to form industrial insurance self-insurance groups is amended by deleting the reference to a repealed definition of "hospital." A new definition is added that includes hospitals under the hospital licensing statute and hospitals regulated as psychiatric hospitals, but excludes beds used by a comprehensive cancer center for cancer research. A reference is deleted that limited the self-insurance group for non-public hospitals to not-for-profit hospitals.
Fiscal Note: Not requested.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Testimony For: The bill is needed to make a technical correction in the industrial insurance law that resulted from the sunset of the Washington State Hospital Commission.
Testimony Against: None.
Witnesses: Jody Moran, Department of Labor and Industries.