AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
The Texas Workers' Compensation Act provides for various types of indemnity benefits payable to injured employees and their beneficiaries in the case of compensable occupational injury, illness, or death. One of these types of indemnity benefits, burial benefits, is designed to compensate the person who pays for the cost of burial for the deceased employee.
Currently, the statute allows for the compensation of burial expenses up to $6,000 per workers' compensation claim, or the actual cost incurred for reasonable burial expenses, whichever is less. S.B. 653 increases the maximum reimbursement for burial benefits payable under the Workers' Compensation Act to $10,000 per claim.
As proposed, S.B. 653 amends current law relating to increasing the amount of burial benefits required to be paid by an insurance carrier under the workers' compensation system.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 408.186(a), Labor Code, to increase the amount of burial benefits required to be paid by an insurance carrier under the workers’ compensation system from $6,000 to $10,000.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2015.