S-1581               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5945

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Senators Cantu, Smitherman, Anderson and Tanner

Read first time 2/19/87 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to readjustments of workers' compensation; and amending RCW 51.32.160.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 51.32.160, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 4, chapter 59, Laws of 1986 and RCW 51.32.160 are each amended to read as follows:

          If aggravation, diminution, or termination of disability takes place or be discovered after the rate of compensation shall have been established or compensation terminated, in any case the director, through and by means of the division of industrial insurance, may, upon the application of the beneficiary or an employer, made within ((seven years after the establishment or termination of such compensation)) five years from the date the first closing order becomes final, or upon his or her own motion, readjust for further application the rate of compensation in accordance with the rules in this section provided for the same, or in a proper case terminate the payment:  PROVIDED, That the time limitation of this section shall be ten years in claims involving loss of vision or function of the eyes.

          If a worker receiving a pension for total disability returns to gainful employment for wages, the director may suspend or terminate the rate of compensation established for the disability without producing medical evidence that shows that a diminution of the disability has occurred.

          No act done or ordered to be done by the director, or the department prior to the signing and filing in the matter of a written order for such readjustment shall be ground for such readjustment.