1648-S.E [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to charges against industrial insurance awards; amending RCW 51.32.040 and 50.20.085; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 51.32.040 and 1995 c 160 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in RCW 43.20B.720, 50.20.085, and 74.20A.260, no money paid or payable under this title shall, before the issuance and delivery of the check or warrant, be assigned, charged, or taken in execution, attached, garnished, or pass or be paid to any other person by operation of law, any form of voluntary assignment, or power of attorney. Any such assignment or charge is void unless the transfer is to a financial institution at the request of a worker or other beneficiary and made in accordance with RCW 51.32.045.

(2)(a) If any worker suffers (i) a permanent partial injury and dies from some other cause than the accident which produced the injury before he or she receives payment of the award for the permanent partial injury or (ii) any other injury before he or she receives payment of any monthly installment covering any period of time before his or her death, the amount of the permanent partial disability award or the monthly payment, or both, shall be paid to the surviving spouse or the child or children if there is no surviving spouse.

(b) If any worker suffers an injury and dies from it before he or she receives payment of any monthly installment covering time loss for any period of time before his or her death, the amount of the monthly payment shall be paid to the surviving spouse or the child or children if there is no surviving spouse.

(c) Any application for compensation under this subsection (2) shall be filed with the department or self-insuring employer within one year of the date of death. However, if the injured worker resided in the United States as long as three years before the date of injury, payment under this subsection (2) shall not be made to any surviving spouse or child who was at the time of the injury a nonresident of the United States.

(3)(a) Any worker or beneficiary receiving benefits under this title who is subsequently confined in, or who subsequently becomes eligible for benefits under this title while confined in, any institution under conviction and sentence shall have all payments of the compensation canceled during the period of confinement. After discharge from the institution, payment of benefits due afterward shall be paid if the worker or beneficiary would, except for the provisions of this subsection (3), otherwise be entitled to them.

(b) If any prisoner is injured in the course of his or her employment while participating in a work or training release program authorized by chapter 72.65 RCW and is subject to the provisions of this title, he or she is entitled to payments under this title, subject to the requirements of chapter 72.65 RCW, unless his or her participation in the program has been canceled, or unless he or she is returned to a state correctional institution, as defined in RCW 72.65.010(3), as a result of revocation of parole or new sentence.

(c) If the confined worker has any beneficiaries during the confinement period during which benefits are canceled under (a) or (b) of this subsection, they shall be paid directly the monthly benefits which would have been paid to the worker for himself or herself and the worker's beneficiaries had the worker not been confined.

(4) Any lump sum benefits to which a worker would otherwise be entitled but for the provisions of this section shall be paid on a monthly basis to his or her beneficiaries.

Sec. 2. RCW 50.20.085 and 1991 c 117 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) An individual is disqualified from benefits with respect to any day or days for which he or she is receiving, has received, or will receive compensation under RCW 51.32.060 or 51.32.090.

(2)(a) By accepting benefits under this title, the individual shall be deemed to have subrogated the employment security department to the individual's right to recover temporary total disability compensation or permanent total disability compensation, or both, due the individual under Title 51 RCW to the extent of such unemployment benefits or compensation under Title 51 RCW, whichever is less, furnished to the recipient for the period for which compensation under Title 51 RCW is payable.

(b)(i) The employment security department may assert and enforce a lien and notice to withhold and deliver as provided in this section to secure reimbursement of any benefits paid for or during the period and for the purposes expressed in this section.

(ii) The effective date of the lien and notice to withhold and deliver shall be the day that it is received by the director of the department of labor and industries, an employee of the director's office of suitable discretion, or a self-insurer as defined in chapter 51.08 RCW. Service of the lien and notice to withhold and deliver may be made personally, by regular mail postage prepaid, or by electronic transmission. A copy of the lien and notice to withhold and deliver shall be mailed to the individual at his or her last known address by certified mail, return receipt requested, no later than the next business day after the lien and notice to withhold and deliver has been mailed or delivered to the department of labor and industries or to a self-insurer.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 1997.