FINAL BILL REPORT

                  HB 1351

                         C 158 L 93

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Defining hospital in regard to self‑insurers.

By Representatives Veloria, Heavey, King and Lisk; by request of Department of Labor & Industries.

House Committee on Commerce & Labor

Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce

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  The definition of "hospital" for the purpose of authorizing these groups refers to a statute that was repealed in 1990 with the sunset of the Washington State Hospital Commission.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:  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authority for hospitals to form industrial insurance self-insurance groups is amended by deleting the reference to a repealed definition of "hospital."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 private hospitals to not-for-profit hospitals.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  97 0

Senate 42 0

Effective:  July 25, 1993