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. (1) The legislature finds that there has been perceived growth in occupational disease and chemically related illness claims that arise from the workplace, and that statistics kept by the department of labor and industries indicate that a significant proportion of such claims may be rejected by the department and self-insured employers. It is also recognized that workers suffering such illnesses may have physical, psychological or financial burden from their disorders.

(2) The legislature recognizes that the department, in order to accept a claim for chemically related illness, or any related occupational disease or injury, must receive medical evidence of causality in the relationship between an exposure and illness.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) A study, subject to the confidentiality requirements under RCW 51.28.070, shall be conducted of industrial insurance claims filed by an appropriate sample of workers who have suffered chemically related illnesses or injuries and whose claims were open any time 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

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

(2) A study shall also be conducted to determine:

(a) Which occupational diseases and injuries should be considered chemically related illnesses so that an accurate annual count of such illnesses may be reported;

(b) The best method of reporting such illnesses annually, including the most accurate set of available or obtainable data;

(c) A review of other workers' compensation jurisdictions and relevant scientific literature regarding the criteria for determining causality or work-relatedness in occupational diseases and injuries. This review shall at least include:

(i) Methods generally accepted in the medical determination of whether an exposure or exposures are likely to be either toxic or causative, or both;

(ii) Methods generally accepted in the medical determination of the presence or absence of a definable clinical condition;

(iii) Methods generally accepted in determining the medical relationship between the exposure and the clinical condition.

(3) The department of labor and industries 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.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A special task force composed of four members or designees of the workers' compensation advisory committee and four legislators, two from the house of representatives and two from the senate, shall advise and provide oversight to the studies in section 2 of this act. The task force shall report to the legislature on an interim basis in December 1999, and with a final report in December 2000. The final report shall make statutory and policy recommendations including recommended changes to the criteria for determining causality for chemically related occupational disease and injury.