Bill Text: NY S00543 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

New York Senate Bill 543 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requires reporting by the workers' compensation board and appointments to the advisory board.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S00543 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S00543-Introduced.html

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           543
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by Sens. AKSHAR, FUNKE -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
        AN  ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to reporting
          by the workers' compensation board and appointments  to  the  advisory
          board; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration
          thereof
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  Subdivisions 1 and 4 of section 35 of the workers' compen-
     2  sation law, subdivision 1 as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2007  and
     3  subdivision  4 as amended by section 2 of subpart A of part NNN of chap-
     4  ter 59 of the laws of 2017, are amended and a new subdivision 5 is added
     5  to read as follows:
     6    1. Return to work. (a) The [commissioner of labor  will]  board  shall
     7  issue  a  report  annually  in  the  month of March to the governor, the
     8  speaker of the assembly, the majority leader  of  the  senate,  and  the
     9  chairs of the labor, ways and means and finance committees of the assem-
    10  bly and senate [on or before December first, two thousand seven], making
    11  recommendations  as  to  how  to  assure that workers categorized by the
    12  board as permanently partially disabled return to gainful employment  to
    13  the  greatest  extent  practicable.  [Such  commissioner] The board will
    14  consider administrative and  legislative  remedies,  and  shall  include
    15  estimates  of  cost  in the report.  The report shall examine best prac-
    16  tices and the laws of other  jurisdictions,  as  well  as  any  relevant
    17  programs authorized by New York law. The report shall additionally exam-
    18  ine  return  to  work  practices  as  implemented by carriers, the state
    19  insurance fund, employers, and the board.  It  shall  also  examine  the
    20  relationship of vocational rehabilitation to ultimate return to work.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05566-01-9

        S. 543                              2
     1    (b)  The  [commissioner  of  labor will] board shall be assisted by an
     2  advisory council constituted of [six] seven  persons  appointed  by  the
     3  governor as follows:
     4    (i)  a representative of organized labor appointed upon recommendation
     5  of the New York State American Federation of  Labor-Congress  of  Indus-
     6  trial Organizations;
     7    (ii)  a representative of the business community appointed upon recom-
     8  mendation of the Business Council of New York State, Incorporated;
     9    (iii) one person upon recommendation of the  majority  leader  of  the
    10  senate;
    11    (iv)  one  person  upon recommendation of the speaker of the assembly;
    12  [and]
    13    (v) two other persons in the governor's discretion[.]; and
    14    (vi) the commissioner of labor or his or her designee.
    15    4. Annual safety net reporting. The board,  in  conjunction  with  the
    16  commissioner  of  labor  and  the  superintendent of financial services,
    17  shall track all claimants who have been awarded permanent partial  disa-
    18  bility  status and report annually [on] in the month of December [first,
    19  beginning in two thousand eight], to the governor, the  speaker  of  the
    20  assembly,  the  majority  leader  of  the  senate, and the chairs of the
    21  labor, ways and means and finance committees of the assembly and senate:
    22    (i) The number of said claimants who have:
    23    (1) returned to gainful employment;
    24    (2) been recategorized as being totally industrially disabled;
    25    (3) remain subject to duration limitations set forth in paragraph w of
    26  subdivision three of section fifteen of this article; and
    27    (4) not returned to work, and whose indemnity payments have expired.
    28    (ii) The additional steps the [commissioner]  board  contemplates  are
    29  necessary to minimize the number of workers who have neither returned to
    30  work nor been recategorized from permanent partial disability.
    31    5. Failure to file. Failure to file the report required by subdivision
    32  four  of  this  section  shall require the chair and the commissioner of
    33  labor to appear before the senate and assembly committees on  labor,  at
    34  such  committee  chair's convenience, to provide information required by
    35  subdivision four of this section.
    36    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall  expire  and  be
    37  deemed repealed five years after such date.