BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2815

By: Giddings

Business & Industry

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Workers' compensation is of crucial importance to working Texans. One of its key functions is to inform injured employees about their rights and to make sure that all working Texans understand these rights.

H.B. 2815 specifies a venue to resolve disputes regarding the issue of whether a carrier or an employer properly provided required health care information to an employee.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 2815 amends the Insurance Code to authorize an issue regarding whether an employer's insurance carrier or an employee's employer properly provided an employee with the required accurate written description of the terms and conditions for obtaining health care within the carrier's workers' compensation health care network to be resolved under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act's provisions for the adjudication of disputes, as used by the Texas Department of Insurance's division of workers' compensation.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.