BILL REQ. #:  H-0793.1 

Read first time 02/03/2003.   Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

     AN ACT Relating to securing benefits for hearing loss; and amending RCW 51.32.180 and 51.36.020.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 51.32.180 and 1988 c 161 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     Every worker who suffers disability from an occupational disease in the course of employment under the mandatory or elective adoption provisions of this title, or his or her family and dependents in case of death of the worker from such disease or infection, shall receive the same compensation benefits and medical, surgical and hospital care and treatment as would be paid and provided for a worker injured or killed in employment under this title, except as follows:
     (((a))) (1) This section and RCW 51.16.040 shall not apply where the last exposure to the hazards of the disease or infection occurred prior to January 1, 1937; and
     (((b))) (2)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, for claims filed on or after July 1, 1988, the rate of compensation for occupational diseases shall be established as of the date the disease requires medical treatment or becomes totally or partially disabling, whichever occurs first, and without regard to the date of the contraction of the disease or the date of filing the claim.
     (b) For occupationally related noise-induced hearing loss claims filed on or after the effective date of this section, and such claims existing on the effective date of this section if no final adjudication of the rate of compensation has been made, the rate of compensation shall be established as the earlier of:
     (i) The date by which the worker received both a written notification from the same physician who provided the worker notice under RCW 51.28.055 that the worker has occupationally related noise-induced hearing loss and the associated audiogram; or
     (ii) The date the claim was filed.

Sec. 2   RCW 51.36.020 and 1999 c 395 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) When the injury to any worker is so serious as to require his or her being taken from the place of injury to a place of treatment, his or her employer shall, at the expense of the medical aid fund, or self-insurer, as the case may be, furnish transportation to the nearest place of proper treatment.
     (2) Every worker whose injury results in the loss of one or more limbs or eyes shall be provided with proper artificial substitutes and every worker, who suffers an injury to an eye producing an error of refraction, shall be once provided proper and properly equipped lenses to correct such error of refraction and his or her disability rating shall be based upon the loss of sight before correction.
     (3) Every worker whose accident results in damage to or destruction of an artificial limb, eye, or tooth, shall have same repaired or replaced.
     (4) Every worker whose hearing aid or eyeglasses or lenses are damaged, destroyed, or lost as a result of an industrial accident shall have the same restored or replaced. The department or self-insurer shall be liable only for the cost of restoring damaged hearing aids or eyeglasses to their condition at the time of the accident.
     (5)(a) All mechanical appliances necessary in the treatment of an injured worker, such as braces, belts, casts, and crutches, shall be provided and all mechanical appliances required as permanent equipment after treatment has been completed shall continue to be provided or replaced without regard to the date of injury or date treatment was completed, notwithstanding any other provision of law.
     (b) The hearing aids provided or replaced under this subsection must be appropriate to the injured worker's condition. Evaluation of a hearing aid's appropriateness must consider whether the worker would benefit from upgrading the hearing aid in light of technologies available, the efficacy of the technology, and the cost. If the injured worker chooses a hearing aid that is more costly than one considered appropriate after expert review, the worker is responsible for the difference in cost.
     (6) A worker, whose injury is of such short duration as to bring him or her within the time limit provisions of RCW 51.32.090, shall nevertheless receive during the omitted period medical, surgical, and hospital care and service and transportation under the provisions of this chapter.
     (7) Whenever in the sole discretion of the supervisor it is reasonable and necessary to provide residence modifications necessary to meet the needs and requirements of the worker who has sustained catastrophic injury, the department or self-insurer may be ordered to pay an amount not to exceed the state's average annual wage for one year as determined under RCW 50.04.355, as now existing or hereafter amended, toward the cost of such modifications or construction. Such payment shall only be made for the construction or modification of a residence in which the injured worker resides. Only one residence of any worker may be modified or constructed under this subsection, although the supervisor may order more than one payment for any one home, up to the maximum amount permitted by this section.
     (8)(a) Whenever in the sole discretion of the supervisor it is reasonable and necessary to modify a motor vehicle owned by a worker who has become an amputee or becomes paralyzed because of an industrial injury, the supervisor may order up to fifty percent of the state's average annual wage for one year, as determined under RCW 50.04.355, to be paid by the department or self-insurer toward the costs thereof.
     (b) In the sole discretion of the supervisor after his or her review, the amount paid under this subsection may be increased by no more than four thousand dollars by written order of the supervisor.
     (9) The benefits provided by subsections (7) and (8) of this section are available to any otherwise eligible worker regardless of the date of industrial injury.