By Hochberg                                           H.B. No. 1826
         76R5418 CMR-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to supplemental income benefits under the workers'
 1-3     compensation system.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 408.143, Labor Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 408.143. EMPLOYEE STATEMENT.  (a)  After the
 1-8     commission's initial determination of supplemental income benefits,
 1-9     the employee must file a statement with the insurance carrier
1-10     stating:
1-11                 (1)  that the employee has earned less than 80 percent
1-12     of the employee's average weekly wage as a direct result of the
1-13     employee's impairment;
1-14                 (2)  the amount of wages the employee earned in the
1-15     filing period provided by Subsection (b); and
1-16                 (3)  that the employee has in good faith sought
1-17     employment commensurate with the employee's ability to work.
1-18           (b)  The statement required under this section must be filed
1-19     [quarterly] on a form and in the manner provided by the commission.
1-20     Except as provided by Subsection (c), the statement must be filed
1-21     quarterly.
1-22           (c)  On or after the second anniversary of the date the
1-23     commission makes the initial award of supplemental income benefits,
1-24     the employee may  file an annual report if in the one-year period
 2-1     preceding the date of the report being filed the employee has shown
 2-2     no improvement.
 2-3           (d)  The commission may modify the filing period as
 2-4     appropriate to an individual case.
 2-5           (e) [(c)]  Failure to file a statement under this section
 2-6     relieves the insurance carrier of liability for supplemental income
 2-7     benefits for the  period during which a statement is not filed.
 2-8           SECTION 2.  Subchapter H, Chapter 408, Labor Code, is amended
 2-9     by adding Section 408.151 to read as follows:
2-10           Sec. 408.151.  MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME
2-11     BENEFITS.  (a)  On or after the second anniversary of the date the
2-12     commission makes the initial award of supplemental income benefits,
2-13     an insurance carrier may  not require an employee who is receiving
2-14     supplemental income benefits to submit to a medical examination
2-15     more than annually if, in the preceding year, the employee's
2-16     medical condition resulting from the compensable injury has not
2-17     improved.
2-18           (b)  This section does not apply to a medical examination
2-19     required by the commission under Section 408.004.
2-20           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-21     applies only to an employee statement stating eligibility for
2-22     supplemental income benefits filed with an insurance carrier on or
2-23     after that date.  A statement filed before that date is governed by
2-24     the law in effect on the date that the statement was filed, and the
2-25     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-26           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.