By Ritter H.B. No. 2514
76R10283 PB-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to certain workers' compensation programs conducted to
1-3 increase worker safety.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 ARTICLE 1. IMMUNITY FOR LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN SAFETY CONSULTATIONS
1-6 SECTION 1.01. Section 411.003(a), Labor Code, is amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (a) An insurance company, the agent, servant, or employee of
1-9 the insurance company, or a safety consultant who performs a safety
1-10 consultation under Subchapter D or E has no liability for an
1-11 accident, injury, or occupational disease based on an allegation
1-12 that the accident, injury, or occupational disease was caused or
1-13 could have been prevented by a program, inspection, or other
1-14 activity or service undertaken by the insurance company for the
1-15 prevention of accidents in connection with operations of the
1-16 employer.
1-17 ARTICLE 2. HAZARDOUS EMPLOYER PROGRAM
1-18 SECTION 2.01. The subchapter heading to Subchapter D, Chapter
1-19 411, Labor Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-20 SUBCHAPTER D. HAZARDOUS [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS] EMPLOYER PROGRAM
1-21 SECTION 2.02. Section 411.041, Labor Code, is amended to
1-22 read as follows:
1-23 Sec. 411.041. APPLICATION; IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS
1-24 [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS] EMPLOYER. (a) This subchapter applies as
2-1 follows:
2-2 (1) nothing in this subchapter applies to a federal
2-3 entity or to a state agency, institution, or department described
2-4 by Chapter 501, 502, 503, or 505;
2-5 (2) Sections 411.043, 411.044, 411.045, 411.046, and
2-6 411.047 apply only to an employer that is:
2-7 (A) a political subdivision subject to Chapter
2-8 504; and
2-9 (B) not an employer described by Subdivision
2-10 (1); and
2-11 (3) Sections 411.0415, 411.042, 411.048, 411.049, and
2-12 411.050 apply to all employers, other than an employer described by
2-13 Subdivision (1).
2-14 (b) The division shall develop a program to identify
2-15 hazardous [extra-hazardous] employers. The program must include
2-16 analysis of injury frequency.
2-17 (c) [(b)] Except as provided by Section 411.0415, an
2-18 employer whose injury frequencies substantially exceed those that
2-19 may reasonably be expected in that employer's business or industry
2-20 is a hazardous [an extra-hazardous] employer.
2-21 SECTION 2.03. Sections 411.0415(a) and (c), Labor Code, are
2-22 amended to read as follows:
2-23 (a) The executive director may exclude from identification
2-24 as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous] employer an employer who
2-25 presents evidence satisfactory to the commission that the injury
2-26 frequencies of the employer substantially exceed those that may
2-27 reasonably be expected in that employer's business or industry only
3-1 because of a fatality that:
3-2 (1) occurred because of factors beyond the employer's
3-3 control; or
3-4 (2) was outside the course and scope of the deceased
3-5 individual's employment.
3-6 (c) If the commission determines that the case history of
3-7 the employee's fatality indicates that the employer or the work
3-8 environment was a proximate cause of the fatality, the commission
3-9 may request a hearing under Section 411.049. If the hearing
3-10 establishes that a proximate cause of the fatality was a factor or
3-11 factors within the employer's control and was within the course and
3-12 scope of the employment, the commission may identify [require] the
3-13 employer for [to participate in] the hazardous employer
3-14 [extra-hazardous employers] program if that fatality causes the
3-15 employer to be designated as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous]
3-16 employer.
3-17 SECTION 2.04. Section 411.042, Labor Code, is amended to
3-18 read as follows:
3-19 Sec. 411.042. NOTIFICATION TO HAZARDOUS [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS]
3-20 EMPLOYER AND INSURANCE CARRIER. (a) The division shall notify
3-21 each employer identified as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous]
3-22 employer and the insurance carrier for that employer that the
3-23 employer has been identified as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous]
3-24 employer.
3-25 (b) The commission by rule shall require a minimum interval
3-26 of at least six months before a subsequent audit to identify an
3-27 employer who was previously identified as a hazardous employer.
4-1 SECTION 2.05. Section 411.048, Labor Code, is amended to
4-2 read as follows:
4-3 Sec. 411.048. COSTS CHARGED TO EMPLOYER. (a) The
4-4 commission shall charge an [the] employer that is a political
4-5 subdivision for reimbursement of the reasonable cost of services
4-6 provided by the division, including a reasonable allocation of the
4-7 commission's administrative costs, in formulating and monitoring
4-8 the implementation of a plan under Section 411.043 or 411.047,
4-9 investigating an accident under Section 411.044, or in conducting a
4-10 follow-up inspection under Section 411.045.
4-11 (b) The commission shall charge a private employer for
4-12 reimbursement of the reasonable cost of services provided by the
4-13 division, including a reasonable allocation of the commission's
4-14 administrative costs, in providing safety and health services under
4-15 this program at the request of the private employer. This
4-16 subsection does not apply to services provided to the employer
4-17 under Section 411.018.
4-18 SECTION 2.06. Section 411.050, Labor Code, is amended to
4-19 read as follows:
4-20 Sec. 411.050. ADMISSIBILITY OF IDENTIFICATION AS HAZARDOUS
4-21 [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS] EMPLOYER. The identification of an employer as a
4-22 hazardous [an extra-hazardous] employer under this subchapter is
4-23 not admissible in any judicial proceeding unless:
4-24 (1) the commission has determined that the employer is
4-25 not in compliance with this subchapter; and
4-26 (2) that determination has not been reversed or
4-27 superseded at the time of the event giving rise to the judicial
5-1 proceeding.
5-2 ARTICLE 3. INSURER ACCIDENT PREVENTION SERVICES
5-3 SECTION 3.01. Section 411.064, Labor Code, is amended to
5-4 read as follows:
5-5 Sec. 411.064. INSPECTIONS. (a) The division shall conduct
5-6 an inspection at least every two years to determine the adequacy of
5-7 the accident prevention services required by Section 411.061 for
5-8 each insurance company writing workers' compensation insurance in
5-9 this state.
5-10 (b) If, after an inspection under Subsection (a), an
5-11 insurance company's accident prevention services are determined to
5-12 be inadequate, the division shall reinspect the accident prevention
5-13 services of the insurance company not earlier than the 180th day or
5-14 later than the 270th day after the date the accident prevention
5-15 services were determined by the division to be inadequate.
5-16 (c) The insurance company shall reimburse the commission for
5-17 the reasonable cost of the reinspection, including a reasonable
5-18 allocation of the commission's administrative costs incurred in
5-19 conducting the inspections.
5-20 ARTICLE 4. TRANSITION; EFFECTIVE DATE; EMERGENCY
5-21 SECTION 4.01. Section 411.003, Labor Code, as amended by
5-22 this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or
5-23 after the effective date of this Act. A cause of action that
5-24 accrues before that date is governed by the law as it existed
5-25 immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
5-26 continued in effect for that purpose.
5-27 SECTION 4.02. Section 411.064, Labor Code, as amended by
6-1 this Act, applies only to an inspection that is conducted on or
6-2 after the effective date of this Act. An inspection conducted
6-3 before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the
6-4 inspection was conducted, and the former law is continued in effect
6-5 for that purpose.
6-6 SECTION 4.03. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
6-7 SECTION 4.04. The importance of this legislation and the
6-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.