1-1 By: Ritter (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister) H.B. No. 2513
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 23, 1999;
1-3 April 26, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Economic Development; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to certain workers' compensation benefits and procedures
1-9 designed to enable an injured worker to return to work.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 408.150, Labor Code, is amended to read
1-12 as follows:
1-13 Sec. 408.150. VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION. (a) The
1-14 commission shall refer an employee to the Texas Rehabilitation
1-15 Commission with a recommendation for appropriate services if the
1-16 commission determines that an employee entitled to supplemental
1-17 income benefits could be materially assisted by vocational
1-18 rehabilitation or training in returning to employment or returning
1-19 to employment more nearly approximating the employee's preinjury
1-20 employment. The commission shall also notify insurance carriers of
1-21 the need for vocational rehabilitation or training services. The
1-22 insurance carrier may provide services through a private provider
1-23 of vocational rehabilitation services under Section 409.012.
1-24 (b) An employee who refuses services or refuses to cooperate
1-25 with services provided under this section by the Texas
1-26 Rehabilitation Commission or a private provider loses entitlement
1-27 to supplemental [supplementary] income benefits.
1-28 SECTION 2. Section 409.012, Labor Code, is amended by adding
1-29 Subsection (e) to read as follows:
1-30 (e) The commission by rule may require that a private
1-31 provider of vocational rehabilitation services maintain certain
1-32 credentials and qualifications in order to provide services in
1-33 connection with a workers' compensation insurance claim.
1-34 SECTION 3. Section 413.018, Labor Code, is amended by
1-35 amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c)-(e) to read as
1-36 follows:
1-37 (a) The commission by rule shall provide for the periodic
1-38 review of medical care provided in claims in which [lost-time]
1-39 guidelines for expected or average return to work time frames [or
1-40 other appropriate guidelines] are exceeded.
1-41 (c) The commission shall implement a program to encourage
1-42 employers and treating doctors to discuss the availability of
1-43 modified duty to encourage the safe and more timely return to work
1-44 of injured employees. The commission may require a treating or
1-45 examining doctor, on the request of the employer, insurance
1-46 carrier, or commission, to provide a functional capacity evaluation
1-47 of an injured employee and to determine the employee's ability to
1-48 engage in physical activities found in the workplace or in
1-49 activities that are required in a modified duty setting.
1-50 (d) The commission shall provide through the commission's
1-51 health and safety information and medical review outreach programs
1-52 information to employers regarding effective return to work
1-53 programs. This section does not require an employer to provide
1-54 modified duty or an employee to accept a modified duty assignment.
1-55 An employee who does not accept an employer's offer of modified
1-56 duty determined by the commission to be a bona fide job offer is
1-57 subject to Section 408.103(e).
1-58 (e) The commission may adopt rules and forms as necessary to
1-59 implement this section.
1-60 SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-61 (b) The Texas Workers' Compensation Commission shall
1-62 implement the program required by Section 413.018(c), Labor Code,
1-63 as added by this Act, not later than January 1, 2000.
1-64 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-5 * * * * *