AN ACT Relating to mandatory offering of
personal injury protection insurance; adding new sections to chapter 48.22 RCW;
creating a new section; and providing an effective date.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section
apply throughout this chapter.
(1) "Automobile" means a passenger
car as defined in RCW 46.04.382 registered or principally garaged in this state
other than:
(a) A farm-type tractor or other self-propelled
equipment designed for use principally off public roads;
(b) A vehicle operated on rails or
crawler-treads;
(c) A vehicle located for use as a residence;
(d) A motor home as defined in RCW 46.04.305;
or
(e) A moped as defined in RCW 46.04.304.
(2) "Bodily injury" means bodily
injury, sickness, or disease, including death at any time resulting from the
injury, sickness, or disease.
(3) "Income continuation benefits"
means payments of at least eighty-five percent of the insured's loss of income
from work, because of bodily injury sustained by him or her in the accident,
less income earned during the benefit payment period. The benefit payment
period begins fourteen days after the date of the accident and ends at the
earliest of the following:
(a) The date on which the insured is reasonably
able to perform the duties of his or her usual occupation;
(b) The expiration of not more than fifty-two
weeks from the fourteenth day; or
(c) The date of the insured's death.
(4) "Insured automobile" means an
automobile described on the declarations page of the policy.
(5) "Insured" means:
(a) The named insured or a person who is a
resident of the named insured's household and is either related to the named
insured by blood, marriage, or adoption, or is the named insured's ward, foster
child, or stepchild; or
(b) A person who sustains bodily injury caused
by accident while: (i) Occupying or using the insured automobile with the
permission of the named insured; or (ii) a pedestrian accidentally struck by
the insured automobile.
(6) "Loss of services benefits" means
reimbursement for payment to others, not members of the insured's household,
for expenses reasonably incurred for services in lieu of those the insured
would usually have performed for his or her household without compensation,
provided the services are actually rendered, and ending the earliest of the
following:
(a) The date on which the insured person is
reasonably able to perform those services;
(b) The expiration of fifty-two weeks; or
(c) The date of the insured's death.
(7) "Medical and hospital benefits"
means payments for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by or on
behalf of the insured for injuries sustained as a result of an automobile
accident for health care services provided by persons licensed under Title 18
RCW, including pharmaceuticals, prosthetic devices and eye glasses, and
necessary ambulance, hospital, and professional nursing service.
(8) "Automobile liability insurance
policy" means a policy insuring against loss resulting from liability
imposed by law for bodily injury, death, or property damage suffered by any
person and arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of an insured
automobile.
(9) "Named insured" means the
individual named in the declarations of the policy and includes his or her
spouse if a resident of the same household.
(10) "Occupying" means in or upon or
entering into or alighting from.
(11) "Pedestrian" means a natural
person not occupying a motor vehicle as defined in RCW 46.04.320.
(12) "Personal injury protection"
means the benefits described in sections 1 through 5 of this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.
(1) No new automobile liability insurance policy or renewal of such an existing
policy may be issued unless personal injury protection coverage benefits at
limits established in this chapter for medical and hospital expenses, funeral
expenses, income continuation, and loss of services sustained by an insured
because of bodily injury caused by an automobile accident are offered as an
optional coverage.
(2) A named insured may reject, in writing,
personal injury protection coverage and the requirements of subsection (1) of
this section shall not apply. If a named insured has rejected personal injury
protection coverage, that rejection shall be valid and binding as to all levels
of coverage and on all persons who might have otherwise been insured under such
coverage. If a named insured has rejected personal injury protection coverage,
such coverage shall not be included in any supplemental, renewal, or
replacement policy unless a named insured subsequently requests such coverage
in writing.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.
(1) Personal injury protection coverage need not be provided for vendor's
single interest policies, general liability policies, or other policies, commonly
known as umbrella policies, that apply only as excess to the automobile
liability policy directly applicable to the insured motor vehicle.
(2) Personal injury protection coverage need
not be provided to or on behalf of:
(a) A person who intentionally causes injury to
himself or herself;
(b) A person who is injured while participating
in a prearranged or organized racing or speed contest or in practice or
preparation for such a contest;
(c) A person whose bodily injury is due to war,
whether or not declared, or to an act or condition incident to such
circumstances;
(d) A person whose bodily injury results from
the radioactive, toxic, explosive, or other hazardous properties of nuclear
material;
(e) The named insured or a relative while
occupying a motor vehicle owned by the named insured or furnished for the named
insured's regular use, if such motor vehicle is not described on the
declaration page of the policy under which a claim is made;
(f) A relative while occupying a motor vehicle
owned by the relative or furnished for the relative's regular use, if such
motor vehicle is not described on the declaration page of the policy under
which a claim is made; or
(g) An insured whose bodily injury results or
arises from the insured's use of an automobile in the commission of a felony.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.
Insurers providing automobile insurance policies must offer minimum personal
injury protection coverage for each insured with maximum benefit limits as
follows:
(1) Medical and hospital benefits of ten
thousand dollars for expenses incurred within three years of the automobile
accident;
(2) Benefits for funeral expenses in an amount
of two thousand dollars;
(3) Income continuation benefits covering
income losses incurred within one year after the date of the insured's injury
in an amount of ten thousand dollars, subject to a limit of the lesser of two
hundred dollars per week or eighty-five percent of the weekly income. The
combined weekly payment receivable by the insured under any workers'
compensation or other disability insurance benefits or other income
continuation benefit and this insurance may not exceed eighty-five percent of
the insured's weekly income;
(4) Loss of services benefits in an amount of
five thousand dollars, subject to a limit of forty dollars per day not to
exceed two hundred dollars per week; and
(5) Payments made under personal injury
protection coverage are limited to the amount of actual loss or expense
incurred.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. In
lieu of minimum coverage required under section 4 of this act, an insurer
providing automobile liability insurance policies shall offer and provide, upon
request, personal injury protection coverage with benefit limits for each
insured of:
(1) Up to thirty-five thousand dollars for
medical and hospital benefits incurred within three years of the automobile
accident;
(2) Up to two thousand dollars for funeral
expenses incurred;
(3) Up to thirty-five thousand dollars for one
year's income continuation benefits, subject to a limit of the lesser of seven
hundred dollars per week or eighty-five percent of the weekly income; and
(4) Up to forty dollars per day for loss of
services benefits, for up to one year from the date of the automobile accident.
Payments made under personal injury protection
coverage are limited to the amount of actual loss or expense incurred.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6.
Sections 1 through 5 of this act are each added to chapter 48.22 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. If
any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is
held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to
other persons or circumstances is not affected.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8.
Sections 1 through 5 of this act shall take effect July 1, 1994.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9.
The commissioner may adopt such rules as are necessary to implement sections 1
through 5 of this act.
