FINAL BILL REPORT

                 ESHB 1249

                         C 520 L 93

                     Synopsis as Enacted

 

Brief Description:  Increasing industrial insurance partial disability awards.

 

By House Committee on Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Heavey, King, Franklin, Orr, G. Cole, Jones, Veloria, Johanson and R. Meyers).

 

House Committee on Commerce & Labor

House Committee on Appropriations

Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce

 

Background:  An injured worker with a permanent partial disability receives compensation for the disability according to a statutory schedule under the state's industrial insurance system.  The schedule specifies the amount of the award for amputation of limbs and parts of limbs, as well as for loss of visual acuity and loss of hearing.  Compensation amounts range from $378 for amputation of the tip of a toe to $54,000 for the amputation of an arm or leg.

 

The awards for unspecified amputations and hearing or vision losses are determined based on the relationship the disability bears to the disabilities specified in the award schedule.  Other permanent partial disabilities that are not specified in the schedule are compensated by awards representing the proportion that the disability bears to total bodily impairment, for which the maximum compensation is $90,000.

 

Under Washington Supreme Court decisions, awards payable to injured workers are controlled by the law in effect at the time of the injury.

 

Summary:  All compensation amounts listed under the industrial insurance permanent partial disability schedule are increased by 32 percent beginning July 1, 1993.  The maximum compensation for total bodily impairment is increased from $90,000 to $118,800.  Beginning on July 1, 1994, and on each July 1 after that, these amounts are adjusted based on changes in the National Consumer Price Index.  The amount of the award paid on a claim is governed by the schedule in effect on the date of injury.

 

Votes on Final Passage:

 

House  83 14

Senate 32 13 (Senate amended)

House  92 5 (House concurred)

 

Effective:  May 18, 1993