78R5078 PB-F

By:  Estes                                                        S.B. No. 675



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to status as an employer under a workers' compensation 
insurance policy or certificate of authority to self-insure.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 408.001(a), Labor Code, is amended to 
read as follows:   
	(a)  Recovery of workers' compensation benefits is the 
exclusive remedy of an employee covered by workers' compensation 
insurance coverage or a legal beneficiary for the death of, or a 
work-related injury sustained by, the employee against:
		(1)  the employer;                                              
		(2)  a parent corporation of the employer, a subsidiary 
corporation of the employer, or any other subsidiary of the parent 
corporation of the employer, that:
			(A)  is a named insured on the employer's policy 
of workers' compensation insurance; or
			(B)  is covered by a certificate of authority to 
self-insure issued by the commission under Chapter 407; or
		(3)  an agent or employee of a person described by 
Subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection [the employer for the 
death of or a work-related injury sustained by the employee].
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a claim for workers' compensation benefits based on 
a compensable injury that occurs on or after that date. A claim 
based on a compensable injury that occurs before that date is 
governed by the law in effect on the date that the compensable 
injury occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that 
purpose.