By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a measure that would double the fees charged to businesses in order to replenish an insolvent fund for disabled workers who suffer serious job-related injuries or illnesses.
If Gov. Jay Nixon signs the legislation, payments could start flowing next year to more than 1,200 injured workers whose benefits have been delayed because of the financial shortfall. The measure also could clear the way for the attorney general's office to start settling a backlog of more than 30,000 pending claims against the disability fund.
In addition to recapitalizing the Second Injury Fund, the legislation would change the way people suffering from job-related illnesses receive compensation by shifting most of those claims from the courts back to the administrative procedures of the workers' compensation system.
The House voted 135-23 Thursday to send the bill to the governor. The Senate passed it 33-1 a day earlier. Nixon has not announced whether he will sign the bill, though legislators involved in negotiating the bill have said he intends to do so.
The legislation represents a compromise among House and Senate members who had previously passed different versions of the bill and among the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys and the Missouri Chamber Commerce and Industry, which represent the differing interests of injured workers and their employers. House Speaker Tim Jones declared it "one of the crowning successes of the legislative session" that ends Friday.
"We are taking on and trying to offer a solution to a problem that is tens of millions of dollars in the hole to businesses and taxpayers of the state that accumulates exponential interest every single day," said Jones, R-Eureka.
The Second Injury Fund is financed by businesses through a surcharge on their workers' compensation insurance premiums that was capped at 3 percent under the 2005 law, instead of being allowed to fluctuate based on the fund's annual expenses. Partly as a result of that cap, the fund now has a deficit.
Although it has a balance of $9.3 million, the fund owes more than $32 million in initial payments to people, not counting the interest that has been accruing, according the attorney general's office. Because of the cash-flow problems, the attorney general has delayed payments to 1,262 people awarded benefits since November 2011. There are an additional 30,630 claims pending against the fund.
The legislation would allow state Division of Workers' Compensation to raise that surcharge to 6 percent, beginning in 2014 and continuing through 2021. It also would limit the fund's future coverage to only the most serious work-related disabilities and pare back the interest rates paid on judgments.
Another aspect of the legislation seeks to reverse the way courts have interpreted a 2005 law that revised the workers' compensation system. That law made it harder for employees to prove that an injury was work-related and required its provisions to be strictly interpreted. As a result, judges have ruled that occupational diseases no longer are covered under the definition of "accident," and thus aren't required to be handled through Missouri's workers' compensation system. That has raised concerns among businesses groups that employers could get hit with costly lawsuits for work-related illnesses.
The state Chamber of Commerce has said Missouri currently is the only state in which the workers' compensation system is not the exclusive remedy for occupational diseases.
The legislation would again place most job-related illnesses under the umbrella of the workers' compensation system and provide an enhanced benefit for toxic-exposure illnesses. For cases involving an asbestos-related cancer called mesothelioma, employers could chose coverage through the workers' compensation system or a special risk pool - both of which would pay an enhanced benefit of $500,000 - or they could take their chances in court.
House Minority Leader Jake Hummel opposed the cap on mesothelioma benefits paid through the workers' compensation system. He has said previously that has grandfather died of asbestos poisoning.
"I don't believe that when someone is suffering, that someone is dying a slow painful death, (that they) should have a price tag put on their life," said Hummel, D-St. Louis. "I think that needs to be done in the courts, where juries can look at the human factor, where they can decide what pain and suffering these families have endured."
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Workers' compensation bill is SB1.
Online:
Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov
Mo. House roll call on workers' compensation bill
By The Associated Press
The Missouri House voted 135-23 Thursday to give final approval to legislation that would replenish a fund for disabled workers and change the way people are compensated for job-related illnesses.
Voting yes were 109 Republicans and 26 Democrats.
Voting no were 23 Democrats.
Not voting were one Republican and four Democrats.
REPUBLICANS VOTING YES
Sue Allen, Town and Country
Mike Cierpiot, Lee's Summit
Sonya Anderson, Springfield
Kevin Austin, Springfield
Kurt Bahr, O'Fallon
Jay Barnes, Jefferson City
Mike Bernskoetter, Jefferson City
T.J. Berry, Kearney
Rick Brattin, Harrisonville
Wanda Brown, Lincoln
Eric Burlison, Springfield
Kathie Conway, St. Charles
Steve Cookson, Poplar Bluff
Robert Cornejo, St. Peters
Stanley Cox, Sedalia
Sandy Crawford, Buffalo
Gary Cross, Lee's Summit
Paul Curtman, Pacific
Charlie Davis, Webb City
John Diehl, Town and Country
Dean Dohrman, La Monte
Tony Dugger, Hartville
Kevin Elmer, Nixa
Kevin Engler, Farmington
Sue Entlicher, Bolivar
Scott Fitzpatrick, Shell Knob
Paul Fitzwater, Potosi
Tom Flanigan, Carthage
Dennis Fowler, Advance
Lyndall Fraker, Marshfield
Diane Franklin, Camdenton
Keith Frederick, Rolla
Doug Funderburk, St. Peters
Elaine Gannon, De Soto
Chuck Gatschenberger, Lake St. Louis
Don Gosen, Chesterfield
Casey Guernsey, Bethany
Elijah Haahr, Springfield
Marsha Haefner, St. Louis
Kent Hampton, Malden
Jim Hansen, Frankford
Ron Hicks, St. Peters
Galen Higdon, St. Joseph
Dave Hinson, St. Clair
Denny Hoskins, Warrensburg
Lincoln Hough, Springfield
Jay Houghton, Martinsburg
Thomas Hurst, Meta
Delus Johnson, St. Joseph
Caleb Jones, California
Tim Jones, Eureka
Jeffery Justus, Branson
Shelley Keeney, Marble Hill
Mike Kelley, Lamar
Andrew Koenig, Manchester
Glen Kolkmeyer, Wellington
Bart Korman, High Hill
Mike Lair, Chillicothe
Bill Lant, Joplin
Jeanie Lauer, Blue Springs
Mike Leara, St. Louis
Donna Lichtenegger, Jackson
Warren Love, Osceola
Steve Lynch, Waynesville
Nick Marshall, Parkville
John McCaherty, High Ridge
Joe Don McGaugh, Carrollton
Jeffrey Messenger, Republic
Rocky Miller, Tuscumbia
Chris Molendorp, Belton
Mike Moon, Ash Grove
Lynn Morris, Nixa
Dave Muntzel, Boonville
Jim Neely, Cameron
Myron Neth, Liberty
Mark Parkinson, St. Charles
Donna Pfautsch, Harrisonville
Don Phillips, Kimberling City
Randy Pike, Adrian
Jeff Pogue, Salem
Craig Redmon, Canton
Holly Rehder, Sikeston
Bill Rieboldt, Neosho
Tim Remole, Excello
Shawn Rhoads, West Plains
Todd Richardson, Poplar Bluff
Jeanie Riddle, Mokane
Robert Ross, Yukon
Caleb Rowden, Columbia
Lyle Rowland, Cedarcreek
Dwight Scharnhorst, St. Louis
Dave Schatz, Sullivan
Ron Schieber, Kansas City
Noel Shull, Kansas City
Lindell Shumake, Hannibal
Jason Smith, Salem
Sheila Solon, Blue Springs
Chrissy Sommer, St. Charles
Bryan Spencer, Wentzville
Rick Stream, Kirkwood
Kathy Swan, Cape Girardeau
Mike Thomson, Maryville
Noel Torpey, Independence
Nathan Walker, Kirksville
Bill White, Joplin
Paul Wieland, Imperial
Kenneth Wilson, Smithville
David Wood, Versailles
Anne Zerr, St. Charles
DEMOCRATS VOTING YES
Ira Anders, Independence
Michael Butler, St. Louis
Jon Carpenter, Kansas City
Mike Colona, St. Louis
Linda Black, Desloge
Pat Conway, St. Joseph
Keith English, Florissant
Vicki Englund, St. Louis
Ben Harris, Hillsboro
Chris Kelly, Columbia
Jeanne Kirkton, Webster Groves
Michele Kratky, St. Louis
Jeremy LaFaver, Kansas City
John Mayfield, Independence
TJ McKenna, Festus
Kevin McManus, Kansas City
Margo McNeil, Florissant
Sue Meredith, St. Louis
Gina Mitten, St. Louis
Mary Nichols, Maryland Heights
Charlie Norr, Springfield
Jeff Roorda, Barnhart
Joe Runions, Grandview
Ed Schieffer, Troy
Jay Swearingen, Kansas City
Stephen Webber, Columbia
DEMOCRATS VOTING NO
Bob Burns, St. Louis
Courtney Curtis, Berkeley
Randy Dunn, Kansas City
Brandon Ellington, Kansas City
Michael Frame, Eureka
Kimberly Gardner, St. Louis
Penny Hubbard, St. Louis
Jacob Hummel, St. Louis
Karla May, St. Louis
Gail McCann Beatty, Kansas City
Tom McDonald, Independence
Bonnaye Mims, Kansas City
Genise Montecillo, St. Louis
Judy Morgan, Kansas City
Stacey Newman, St. Louis
Bill Otto, St. Charles
Sharon Pace, Northwoods
Josh Peters, St. Louis
John Rizzo, Kansas City
Jill Schupp, Creve Coeur
Clem Smith, Velda Village Hills
Steve Webb, Florissant
John Wright, Rocheport
REPUBLICAN NOT VOTING
Jeff Grisamore, Lee's Summit
DEMOCRATS NOT VOTING
Rory Ellinger, University City
Steve Hodges, East Prairie
Tommie Pierson, St. Louis
Rochelle Walton Gray, Black Jack