H-2152              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 511

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By House Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance (originally sponsored by Representatives Meyers, Niemi, Dellwo, Sprenkle, Lux, Sayan, Nutley, P. King, Braddock, Grant, Grimm, Crane and Wang)

Read first 2/27/87; passed to Committee on Rules. By Resolution returned to Rules 4/26/87. Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance 1/11/88; on 1/22/88 passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to motor vehicle insurance; adding new sections to chapter 48.22 RCW; 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) "Motor vehicle 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 a motor vehicle.

          (2) "Insured" includes:

          (a) The person named in the policy;

          (b) Any 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;

          (c) Any person while occupying or using, with permission of an insured, a motor vehicle insured under the policy; and

          (d) Any person entitled to recover damages because of bodily injury, death, or property damage to any person indicated in (a) through (c) of this subsection.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     Every motor vehicle liability insurance policy issued or renewed with respect to any private passenger automobile, as defined in RCW 48.18.297, registered or principally garaged in this state shall provide personal injury protection benefits for the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses, funeral expenses, loss of income, and loss of household services sustained by the insured because of bodily injury caused by a motor vehicle accident unless the named insured or spouse has rejected such coverage in writing.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     (1) Personal injury protection benefits need not be provided for general liability policies, commonly known as umbrella policies, or other policies that apply only as excess to the motor vehicle liability policy directly applicable to the insured motor vehicle.

          (2) Personal injury protection benefits need not be provided for any insured while the insured is operating or occupying a motorcycle or motor-driven cycle.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     (1) Benefits for reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses shall include coverage for prosthetic devices, eyeglasses, ambulance services, and professional nursing services.  At a minimum, such coverage shall pay the expenses incurred within one year after the date of the insured's injury up to ten thousand dollars.

          (2) At a minimum, benefits for funeral expenses shall be provided in an amount of up to two thousand dollars.

          (3) At a minimum, benefits for loss of income shall be provided in an amount of up to ten thousand dollars.

          (4) At a minimum, benefits for loss of services shall be provided in an amount up to five thousand dollars.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.     (1) The limit of liability for personal injury protection coverage described in the coverage is the insurer's maximum limit of liability for all damages resulting from any one accident regardless of the number of vehicles insured, insured persons, claims, claimants, policies, vehicles involved in the accident, or premiums paid.

          (2) The personal injury protection coverage may contain a provision that if an insured has other personal injury protection coverage available under other policies, the total limits of liability of all coverages shall not exceed the higher of the applicable limits of the respective personal injury protection coverages.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6.     The commissioner shall adopt all rules necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter including rules governing:

          (1) Conditions;

          (2) Benefit time periods;

          (3) Definitions of benefits;

          (4) Benefit levels to be made available in excess of the minimum benefits set forth in section 4 of this act; and

          (5) Exclusions.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7.     Sections 1 through 6 of this act shall be added to chapter 48.22 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8.     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. 9.     This act shall take effect on December 1, 1987, but the commissioner may adopt such rules as are necessary to implement this act by its effective date.