S-0504.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5211

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Senators Newhouse, Wojahn and Schow

Read first time 01/20/97.  Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

Authorizing public hospital districts to be self-insurers.

    AN ACT Relating to including public hospital districts as authorized self-insurers; and amending RCW 51.14.150.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 51.14.150 and 1993 c 158 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) For the purposes of this section, "hospital" means a hospital as defined in RCW 70.41.020(2) or a psychiatric hospital regulated under chapter 71.12 RCW, but does not include beds utilized by a comprehensive cancer center for cancer research.

    (2)(a) Any two or more employers which are school districts or educational service districts, or (b) any two or more employers which are public hospital districts or hospitals, and are owned or operated by a state agency or municipal corporation of this state, or (c) any two or more employers which are hospitals, no one of which is owned or operated by a state agency or municipal corporation of this state, may enter into agreements to form self-insurance groups for the purposes of this chapter.

    (3) No more than one group may be formed under subsection (2)(b) of this section and no more than one group may be formed under subsection (2)(c) of this section.

    (4) The self-insurance groups shall be organized and operated under  rules promulgated by the director under RCW 51.14.160.  Such a self-insurance group shall be deemed an employer for the purposes of this chapter, and may qualify as a self-insurer if it meets all the other requirements of this chapter.

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