H-1016.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1472

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Representatives Conway, Campbell, Wood, Cody, Dickerson, Hurst, McIntire and Keiser

Read first time 01/26/1999.  Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

Studying chemically related illnesses and injuries.

    AN ACT Relating to chemically related illnesses and injuries; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that there is a perceived growth in the number of chemically related illnesses and injuries suffered by workers and in the number of workers with multiple chemical sensitivities created by work-related exposures; that statistics kept by the department of labor and industries indicate that a significant number of chemically related illness and injury claims are being denied by the department and self-insured employers; that the very existence of multiple chemical sensitivities as a workplace-related illness is being denied; and that a significant number of injured workers with a chemically related illness or injury is suffering physically, psychologically, and financially from the failure of the industrial insurance system to cover their work-related injury or illness.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  (1) A study shall be conducted of industrial insurance claims filed by workers who have suffered chemically related illnesses or injuries during the period from January 1, 1995, through December 31, 1998.   At a minimum, the study shall review:

    (a) The nature and severity of the illnesses or injuries reported in these industrial insurance claims;

    (b) The disposition of these industrial insurance claims by the department of labor and industries or self-insured employers;

    (c) The degree to which the lives of these claimants have changed from the time of exposure to the time of the study, including physical and financial condition, and the degree to which the change, if any, can be attributed to the chemical exposure;

    (d) The extent to which the chemically related injury center of excellence at Harborview medical center was used to guide adjudication of these claims; and

    (e) Recommendations for any changes that may be needed in the way the industrial insurance system deals with chemically related illnesses and injuries.

    (2) The department must contract with an outside entity to conduct the study.  The contractor shall be selected by the director of the department of labor and industries and two members of the workers' compensation advisory committee who are designated for that purpose by the committee.  The study shall be funded within legislative appropriations from the medical aid fund, with self-insured employers and the state fund each paying a pro rata share, based on the number of worker hours, of the authorized expenditures.

    (3) An interim report on the findings and recommendations of the study must be provided to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 31, 1999, and a final report by December 1, 2000.

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