AN ACT Relating to industrial insurance administration; amending RCW 51.04.040, 51.12.020, and 51.48.131; adding a new section to chapter 51.36 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

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

Sec. 1. Section 51.04.040, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 9, chapter 200, Laws of 1986 and RCW 51.04.040 are each amended to read as follows:

The director and his or her authorized assistants shall have power to issue subpoenas to enforce the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production and examination of books, papers, photographs, tapes, and records before the department in connection with any claim made to the department, any billing submitted to the department, or the assessment or collection of premiums. The superior court shall have the power to enforce any such subpoena by proper proceedings.

Sec. 2. Section 51.12.020, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 1, chapter 252, Laws of 1983 and RCW 51.12.020 are each amended to read as follows:

The following are the only employments which shall not be included within the mandatory coverage of this title:

(1) Any person employed as a domestic servant in a private home by an employer who has less than two employees regularly employed forty or more hours a week in such employment.

(2) Any person employed to do gardening, maintenance, repair, remodeling, or similar work in or about the private home of the employer.

(3) A person whose employment is not in the course of the trade, business, or profession of his or her employer and is not in or about the private home of the employer.

(4) Any person performing services in return for aid or sustenance only, received from any religious or charitable organization.

(5) Sole proprietors or partners: PROVIDED, That after July 26, 1981, sole proprietors or partners who for the first time register under chapter 18.27 RCW or become licensed for the first time under chapter 19.28 RCW shall be included under the mandatory coverage provisions of this title subject to the provisions of RCW 51.32.030. These persons may elect to withdraw from coverage under RCW 51.12.115.

(6) ((Any employee, not regularly and continuously employed by the employer in agricultural labor, whose cash remuneration paid by or due from any one employer in that calendar year for agricultural labor is less than one hundred fifty dollars. Employees not regularly and continuously employed in agricultural labor by any one employer but who are employed in agricultural labor on a seasonal basis shall come under the coverage of this title only when their cash remuneration paid or due in that calendar year exceeds one hundred fifty dollars but only as of the occurrence of that event and only as to their work for that employer.

~~(7)~~)) Any child under eighteen years of age employed by his parent or parents in agricultural activities on the family farm.

((~~(8)~~)) (7) Jockeys while participating in or preparing horses for race meets licensed by the Washington horse racing commission pursuant to chapter 67.16 RCW.

((~~(9)~~)) (8) Any ((~~executive~~)) officer of a corporation elected and empowered in accordance with the articles of incorporation or bylaws of a corporation who at all times during the period involved is also a director and shareholder of the corporation. ((Any officer who was considered by the department to be covered on and after June 30, 1977, shall continue to be covered until such time as the officer voluntarily elects to withdraw from coverage in the manner provided by RCW 51.12.110.)) However, any corporation may elect to cover such officers who are in fact employees of the corporation in the manner provided by RCW 51.12.110.

((~~(10)~~)) (9) Services rendered by a musician or entertainer under a contract with a purchaser of the services, for a specific engagement or engagements when such musician or entertainer performs no other duties for the purchaser and is not regularly and continuously employed by the purchaser. A purchaser does not include the leader of a group or recognized entity who employs other than on a casual basis musicians or entertainers.

Sec. 3. Section 7, chapter 315, Laws of 1985 and RCW 51.48.131 are each amended to read as follows:

A notice of assessment becomes final thirty days from the date the notice of assessment was served upon the employer unless: (1) A written request for reconsideration is filed with the department of labor and industries, or (2) an appeal is filed with the board of industrial insurance appeals and sent to the director of labor and industries by mail or delivered in person. The appeal shall not be denied solely on the basis that it was not filed with both the board and the director if it was filed with either the board or the director. The appeal shall set forth with particularity the reason for the employer's appeal and the amounts, if any, that the employer admits are due.

The department, within thirty days after receiving a notice of appeal, may modify, reverse, or change any notice of assessment, or may hold any such notice of assessment in abeyance pending further investigation, and the board shall thereupon deny the appeal, without prejudice to the employer's right to appeal from any subsequent determinative notice of assessment issued by the department.

The burden of proof rests upon the employer in an appeal to prove that the taxes and penalties assessed upon the employer in the notice of assessment are incorrect. The department shall promptly transmit its original record, or a legible copy thereof, produced by mechanical, photographic, or electronic means, in such matter to the board. RCW 51.52.080 through 51.52.106 govern appeals under this section. Further appeals taken from a final decision of the board under this section are governed by the provisions relating to judicial review of administrative decisions contained in RCW 34.04.130 and 34.04.140, and the department has the same right of review from the board's decisions as do employers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 51.36 RCW to read as follows:

All fees and medical charges under this title shall conform to regulations promulgated by the director and shall be paid within sixty days of receipt by the self-insured of a proper billing in the form prescribed by department rule or sixty days after the claim is allowed by final order or judgment, if an otherwise proper billing is received by the self-insured prior to final adjudication of claim allowance. The self-insured shall pay interest at the rate of one percent per month, but at least one dollar per month, whenever the payment period exceeds the applicable sixty-day period on all proper fees and medical charges.