110 HR 6714 IH: National Commission on State Workers’
U.S. House of Representatives
2008-07-31
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
National Commission on State Workers’
Compensation Laws Act of 2008
.
2.The Congress finds the following:
(1)The full
protection of American workers from job-related injury or death requires an
adequate, prompt, and equitable system of workers’ compensation as well as an
effective program of occupational health and safety regulation.
(2)The vast majority
of American workers and their families are dependent on workers’ compensation
for their basic economic security in the event such workers suffer injury or
death in the course of employment.
(3)In 1972, the
National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws found that the system
of State workers’ compensation laws was inequitable and
inadequate
. Since that time, changes in reductions in State workers’
compensation laws have increased the inadequacy and inequitable levels of
workers’ compensation benefits. Serious questions exist concerning the fairness
and adequacy of present workers’ compensation laws in light of the growth of
the economy, changing nature of the labor force, misclassification of workers
as independent contractors, and as leased employees, as well as erosion of
remedies for the bad faith handling and delay in payment of benefits and
medical care to workers and their families, increases in medical knowledge,
changes in the hazards associated with various employment, new risks to health
and safety created by new technology, and increases in the general level of
wages and in the cost of living.
3.Establishment of
CommissionThere is
established a commission to be known as the National Commission on State
Workers’ Compensation Laws
(hereinafter in this Act referred to as the
Commission
).
4.
(a)The duties of the Commission shall be—
(1)to review the
findings of the previous National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation
Laws and its recommendations;
(2)to study and
evaluate State workers’ compensation laws in order to determine if such laws
provide an adequate, prompt, and equitable system of compensation for injury or
death arising out of or in the course of employment; and
(3)to study and
evaluate whether additional remedies should be available to ensure prompt and
good faith payment of benefits and medical care to injured workers and their
families.
(b)Matters To be
Evaluated and StudiedThe study and evaluation under subsection
(a)(2) shall include—
(1)the amount of
permanent and temporary disability benefits and the criteria for determining
the maximum limitations of such benefits or the elimination of such maximum
limitations;
(2)a study and
evaluation of State workers’ compensation laws in order to determine if, and
ensure that, such laws provide an adequate, prompt, and equitable system of
compensation and medical care for injuries or death arising out of in the
course of employment;
(3)a study of whether
other adequate remedies are available to ensure the prompt payment of benefits
and to reduce or eliminate bad faith delays in payments of benefits, providing
medical care, and discouraging misclassification of workers as independent
contractors and or leased employees to avoid paying workers’ compensation
benefits;
(4)the amount and
duration of medical benefits and provisions ensuring adequate medical care and
free choice of physician;
(5)rehabilitation;
(6)standards for
determining assurance of benefits caused by aggravation or acceleration of
preexisting injuries or disease;
(7)time limits on
filing claims;
(8)waiting
periods;
(9)compulsory or
elective coverage;
(10)administration;
(11)ensuring prompt
hearings and due process evidentiary rights in the resolution of claims;
(12)the relationship
between workers’ compensation on the one hand, and old-age, disability, and
survivors insurance and other types of insurance (public or private) on the
other hand; and
(13)methods of
implementing the recommendations of the Commission.
5.
(a)The Commission
shall be composed of 14 members, as follows:
(1)1
member, appointed by the President, who shall serve as chairman of the
Commission.
(2)1
member, appointed by the majority leader of the Senate in consultation with the
majority leader of the House of Representatives, who shall serve as vice
chairman of the Commission.
(3)2
members appointed by the majority leader of the House of
Representatives.
(4)2
members appointed by the minority leader of the House of
Representatives.
(5)2
members appointed by the majority leader of the Senate.
(6)2
members appointed by the minority leader of the Senate.
(7)The Secretary of
Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Health and Human Services,
and the Secretary of Education shall be ex officio members of the
Commission.
(b)
(1)Not more than 6 appointed members of the
Commission shall be from the same political party.
(2)There shall be at
all times at least 3 members that represent injured workers, 3 members that
represent insurance carriers or employers, and 1 member of the general
public.
(c)It is the sense of Congress that
individuals appointed to the Commission should be United States
citizens—
(1)with significant
depth of experience—
(A)as members of
State workers’ compensation boards;
(B)as representatives
of insurance carriers, employers, and injured workers; and
(C)in the general
fields of business and labor;
(2)who are members of
the medical profession with experience in industrial medicine or in workers’
compensation cases; and
(3)who are educators
having special expertise in the field of workers’ compensation.
(d)Any member appointed to fill a vacancy
occurring before the expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor
was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of that term. A member
may serve after the expiration of that member’s term until a successor has
taken office. A vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers, but
shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was
made.
(e)Eight
members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum.
(f)
(1)The Commission
shall hold its initial meeting as soon as practicable.
(2)After its initial
meeting, the Commission shall meet upon the call of the chairman or a majority
of its members.
(g)While away from their homes or regular places of
business in the performance of services for the Commission, members of the
Commission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of
subsistence, in the same manner as persons employed intermittently in the
Government service are allowed expenses under section 5703(b) of title 5,
United States Code.
(h)
(1)Each member of the Commission may be compensated at a level
not to exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay in effect
for a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of
title 5, United States Code, for each day during which that member is engaged
in the actual performance of the duties of the Commission.
(2)Prohibition of
Compensation of Federal EmployeesMembers of the Commission who are full-time
officers or employees of the United States or Members of Congress may not
receive additional pay, allowances, or benefits by reason of their service on
the Commission.
6.
(a)The Chairman of the Commission, in
consultation with the vice chairman and in accordance with the rules agreed
upon by the Commission, may appoint a Director. The Director shall be paid at a
rate not to exceed the equivalent of that payable for a position at level V of
the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title 5, United States
Code.
(b)The
Chairman, in consultation with the vice chairman and in accordance with rules
agreed upon by the Commission, may appoint and fix the compensation of
additional personnel as may be necessary to enable the Commission to carry out
its functions, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,
governing appointments in the competitive service and without regard to the
provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of such title
relating to classification and general schedules pay rates, except that no rate
of pay fixed under this subsection may exceed the equivalent of that payable
for a position at level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of title
5, United States Code.
(c)The Commission is
authorized to procure the services of experts and consultants in accordance
with section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed
the daily rate paid to a person occupying a position at level IV of the
Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code.
(d)Any
Federal Government employee may be detailed to the Commission without
reimbursement from the Commission and such detailee shall retain the rights,
status, and privileges of his or her regular employment without
interruption.
(e)Personnel as
Federal EmployeesThe executive director and any personnel of the
Commission who are employees of the Commission shall be treated as employees
under section 2105 of title 5, United States Code, for purposes of chapters 63,
81, 83, 84, 85, 87, 89, and 90 of that title. The preceding sentence shall not
apply to members of the Commission.
7.
(a)The Commission, or
on the authority of the Commission, any subcommittee or member thereof, may,
for the purpose of carrying out this Act—
(1)hold hearings, take testimony, receive
evidence, administer oaths; and
(2)subject to
subsection (b)(1), require, by subpoena or otherwise, the attendance and
testimony of witnesses and the production of books, records, correspondence,
memoranda, papers and documents.
(b)
(1)
(A)A subpoena may be
issued under this subsection only—
(i)by
the agreement of the chairman and the vice chairman of the Commission;
or
(ii)by
the affirmative vote of 6 members of the Commission.
(B)Subject
to clause (i) of paragraph (1)(A), subpoenas issued under this subsection may
be issued under the signature of the chairman or any member designated by a
majority of the Commission, and may be served by any person designated by the
chairman or by a member designated by a majority of the Commission.
(2)Failure to Obey
a Subpoena
(A)In the case of
contumacy or failure to obey a subpoena issued under paragraph (1), the United
States district court for the judicial district in which the subpoenaed person
resides, is served, or may be found, or wherever the subpoena is returnable,
may issue an order requiring such person to appear at any designated place to
testify or to produce documentary or other evidence. Any failure to obey the
order of the court may be punished as contempt of that court.
(B)In the case of a failure of any witness to comply
with a subpoena or to testify when summoned under authority of this subsection,
the Committee may, by a majority vote, certify a statement of fact constituting
such failure to the appropriate United States attorney, who may bring the
matter before the grand jury for action, under the same authority and
procedures as if the United States attorney had received a certification under
section 192 through 194 of title 2 of the Revised Statutes of the United States
Code.
(3)The
Commission may, to such extent and in such amounts as are made available in
appropriation Acts, enter into contracts to enable the Commission to discharge
its duties under this Act.
(4)Information from
Federal AgenciesThe Commission is authorized to secure directly
from any executive department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office,
independent establishment, or instrumentality of the Government, information,
suggestions, estimates, and statics for the purposes of this Act. Each such
department, bureau, agency, board, commission, office, independent
establishment, or instrumentality shall, to the extent authorized by law,
furnish such information, suggestions, estimates, and statistics directly to
the Commission, upon request of the chairman of the Commission, the chairman of
any subcommittee created by a majority of the Commission, or any member
designated by a majority of the Commission.
8.
(a)The Commission may
submit to the President and Congress interim reports containing such findings,
conclusions, and recommendations for enhancements and improvements in benefit
levels, medical care, and administration of State workers’ compensation
systems, for improvements in insurance practices, and for improvements in dues
process and evidentiary hearings and reduction of bad faith and handling of
delays, as have been agreed to by a majority of Commission members.
(b)Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Commission shall submit to the President and Congress a final
report containing such findings, conclusions, and recommendations for
enhancements and improvements in benefit levels, medical care, and
administration of State workers’ compensation systems, for improvements in
insurance practices, and for improvements in due process and evidentiary
hearings and reduction of bad faith handling and delays, as have been agreed to
by a majority of Commission members.
9.The Commission, and all the authorities of
this Act, shall terminate 19 days after the date on which the final report is
submitted under section 8(b).
10.Authorization of
AppropriationThere are hereby
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Act.