1-1 By: Ritter (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister) H.B. No. 2514
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 14, 1999;
1-3 April 15, 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 programs conducted to
1-9 increase worker safety.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 ARTICLE 1. IMMUNITY FOR LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN SAFETY CONSULTATIONS
1-12 SECTION 1.01. Section 411.003(a), Labor Code, is amended to
1-13 read as follows:
1-14 (a) An insurance company, the agent, servant, or employee of
1-15 the insurance company, or a safety consultant who performs a safety
1-16 consultation under Subchapter D or E has no liability for an
1-17 accident, injury, or occupational disease based on an allegation
1-18 that the accident, injury, or occupational disease was caused or
1-19 could have been prevented by a program, inspection, or other
1-20 activity or service undertaken by the insurance company for the
1-21 prevention of accidents in connection with operations of the
1-22 employer.
1-23 ARTICLE 2. HAZARDOUS EMPLOYER PROGRAM
1-24 SECTION 2.01. The subchapter heading to Subchapter D, Chapter
1-25 411, Labor Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-26 SUBCHAPTER D. HAZARDOUS [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS] EMPLOYER PROGRAM
1-27 SECTION 2.02. Section 411.041, Labor Code, is amended to
1-28 read as follows:
1-29 Sec. 411.041. APPLICATION; IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS
1-30 [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS] EMPLOYER. (a) This subchapter applies as
1-31 follows:
1-32 (1) nothing in this subchapter applies to a federal
1-33 entity or to a state agency, institution, or department described
1-34 by Chapter 501, 502, 503, or 505;
1-35 (2) Sections 411.043, 411.044, 411.045, 411.046, and
1-36 411.047 apply only to an employer that is:
1-37 (A) a political subdivision subject to Chapter
1-38 504; and
1-39 (B) not an employer described by Subdivision
1-40 (1); and
1-41 (3) Sections 411.0415, 411.042, 411.048, 411.049, and
1-42 411.050 apply to all employers, other than an employer described by
1-43 Subdivision (1).
1-44 (b) The division shall develop a program to identify
1-45 hazardous [extra-hazardous] employers. The program must include
1-46 analysis of injury frequency.
1-47 (c) [(b)] Except as provided by Section 411.0415, an
1-48 employer whose injury frequencies substantially exceed those that
1-49 may reasonably be expected in that employer's business or industry
1-50 is a hazardous [an extra-hazardous] employer.
1-51 SECTION 2.03. Sections 411.0415(a) and (c), Labor Code, are
1-52 amended to read as follows:
1-53 (a) The executive director may exclude from identification
1-54 as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous] employer an employer who
1-55 presents evidence satisfactory to the commission that the injury
1-56 frequencies of the employer substantially exceed those that may
1-57 reasonably be expected in that employer's business or industry only
1-58 because of a fatality that:
1-59 (1) occurred because of factors beyond the employer's
1-60 control; or
1-61 (2) was outside the course and scope of the deceased
1-62 individual's employment.
1-63 (c) If the commission determines that the case history of
1-64 the employee's fatality indicates that the employer or the work
2-1 environment was a proximate cause of the fatality, the commission
2-2 may request a hearing under Section 411.049. If the hearing
2-3 establishes that a proximate cause of the fatality was a factor or
2-4 factors within the employer's control and was within the course and
2-5 scope of the employment, the commission may identify [require] the
2-6 employer for [to participate in] the hazardous employer
2-7 [extra-hazardous employers] program if that fatality causes the
2-8 employer to be designated as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous]
2-9 employer.
2-10 SECTION 2.04. Section 411.042, Labor Code, is amended to
2-11 read as follows:
2-12 Sec. 411.042. NOTIFICATION TO HAZARDOUS [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS]
2-13 EMPLOYER AND INSURANCE CARRIER. (a) The division shall notify
2-14 each employer identified as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous]
2-15 employer and the insurance carrier for that employer that the
2-16 employer has been identified as a hazardous [an extra-hazardous]
2-17 employer.
2-18 (b) The commission by rule shall require a minimum interval
2-19 of at least six months before a subsequent audit to identify an
2-20 employer who was previously identified as a hazardous employer.
2-21 SECTION 2.05. Section 411.048, Labor Code, is amended to
2-22 read as follows:
2-23 Sec. 411.048. COSTS CHARGED TO EMPLOYER. (a) The
2-24 commission shall charge an [the] employer that is a political
2-25 subdivision for reimbursement of the reasonable cost of services
2-26 provided by the division, including a reasonable allocation of the
2-27 commission's administrative costs, in formulating and monitoring
2-28 the implementation of a plan under Section 411.043 or 411.047,
2-29 investigating an accident under Section 411.044, or in conducting a
2-30 follow-up inspection under Section 411.045.
2-31 (b) The commission shall charge a private employer for
2-32 reimbursement of the reasonable cost of services provided by the
2-33 division, including a reasonable allocation of the commission's
2-34 administrative costs, in providing safety and health services under
2-35 this program at the request of the private employer. This
2-36 subsection does not apply to services provided to the employer
2-37 under Section 411.018.
2-38 SECTION 2.06. Section 411.050, Labor Code, is amended to
2-39 read as follows:
2-40 Sec. 411.050. ADMISSIBILITY OF IDENTIFICATION AS HAZARDOUS
2-41 [EXTRA-HAZARDOUS] EMPLOYER. The identification of an employer as a
2-42 hazardous [an extra-hazardous] employer under this subchapter is
2-43 not admissible in any judicial proceeding unless:
2-44 (1) the commission has determined that the employer is
2-45 not in compliance with this subchapter; and
2-46 (2) that determination has not been reversed or
2-47 superseded at the time of the event giving rise to the judicial
2-48 proceeding.
2-49 ARTICLE 3. INSURER ACCIDENT PREVENTION SERVICES
2-50 SECTION 3.01. Section 411.064, Labor Code, is amended to
2-51 read as follows:
2-52 Sec. 411.064. INSPECTIONS. (a) The division shall conduct
2-53 an inspection at least every two years to determine the adequacy of
2-54 the accident prevention services required by Section 411.061 for
2-55 each insurance company writing workers' compensation insurance in
2-56 this state.
2-57 (b) If, after an inspection under Subsection (a), an
2-58 insurance company's accident prevention services are determined to
2-59 be inadequate, the division shall reinspect the accident prevention
2-60 services of the insurance company not earlier than the 180th day or
2-61 later than the 270th day after the date the accident prevention
2-62 services were determined by the division to be inadequate.
2-63 (c) The insurance company shall reimburse the commission for
2-64 the reasonable cost of the reinspection, including a reasonable
2-65 allocation of the commission's administrative costs incurred in
2-66 conducting the inspections.
2-67 ARTICLE 4. TRANSITION; EFFECTIVE DATE; EMERGENCY
2-68 SECTION 4.01. Section 411.003, Labor Code, as amended by
2-69 this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or
3-1 after the effective date of this Act. A cause of action that
3-2 accrues before that date is governed by the law as it existed
3-3 immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
3-4 continued in effect for that purpose.
3-5 SECTION 4.02. Section 411.064, Labor Code, as amended by
3-6 this Act, applies only to an inspection that is conducted on or
3-7 after the effective date of this Act. An inspection conducted
3-8 before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the
3-9 inspection was conducted, and the former law is continued in effect
3-10 for that purpose.
3-11 SECTION 4.03. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-12 SECTION 4.04. The importance of this legislation and the
3-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-17 * * * * *