By Bosse                                              H.B. No. 3260
         76R5720 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to workers' compensation claims filed by an employee who
 1-3     suffers from hearing loss.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 409, Labor Code, is amended
 1-6     by adding Section 409.014 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 409.014.  MULTIPLE CLAIMS NOT REQUIRED FOR OCCUPATIONAL
 1-8     DISEASE RESULTING IN HEARING LOSS.  (a)  An employee or person
 1-9     acting on the employee's behalf who  filed a claim for  benefits
1-10     based on an occupational disease resulting in hearing loss is
1-11     entitled to receive benefits without being required to file a
1-12     subsequent claim for benefits regarding a progressive deterioration
1-13     in the person's hearing if the employee:
1-14                 (1)  demonstrates a hearing loss that exceeds the loss
1-15     used in computation of the person's previous impairment rating; and
1-16                 (2)  remains in the employment of the same employer for
1-17     whom the employee worked when the claim was filed.
1-18           (b)  An employee who has an occupational disease resulting in
1-19     hearing loss may not be certified as having reached maximum medical
1-20     improvement under Section 408.123 until the date the employee is no
1-21     longer employed by the employer for whom the employee worked when
1-22     the claim was filed.
1-23           (c)  Section 408.123(c) does not apply to a claim involving
1-24     an occupational disease resulting in hearing loss.
 2-1           (d)  This section does not prevent an insurance carrier from
 2-2     paying benefits to an employee periodically as the employee's
 2-3     hearing progressively deteriorates.
 2-4           (e)  The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to
 2-5     implement this section.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-7           (b)  The Texas Workers' Compensation Commission shall adopt
 2-8     rules under this Act not later than January 1, 2000.
 2-9           (c)  The change in law made by this Act applies to a claim
2-10     for workers' compensation benefits filed with the Texas Workers'
2-11     Compensation Commission on or after January 1, 2000.  A claim for
2-12     workers' compensation benefits filed before that date is governed
2-13     by the law in effect on the date the claim was filed, and the
2-14     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-15           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.