Bill Text: NY S08706 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Repeals a provision of the workers' compensation law relating to securing compensation to employees by insuring and keeping insured the payment of compensation with any stock corporation, mutual corporation or reciprocal insurer.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-05-10 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S08706 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S08706-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          8706
                    IN SENATE
                                      May 10, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  RIVERA -- 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  securing
          compensation  to  employees;  and repealing certain provisions of such
          law relating thereto
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  2 of section 50 of the workers' compensation
     2  law is REPEALED.
     3    § 2. Subdivision 7 of section 54 of the workers' compensation  law  is
     4  REPEALED.
     5    §  3.  Subdivision 6-a of section 54 of the workers' compensation law,
     6  as amended by chapter 24 of the laws of 1988,  is  amended  to  read  as
     7  follows:
     8    6-a.  Insurance  contracts with fire or ambulance districts.  Notwith-
     9  standing any other provision of this section or  of  this  chapter,  any
    10  insurance  contract  to secure workers' compensation for a fire or ambu-
    11  lance district pursuant to  subdivision  one  [or  subdivision  two]  of
    12  section  fifty  of  this  chapter issued to take effect on or after July
    13  first, nineteen hundred sixty, in relation to a fire district and  Janu-
    14  ary  first,  in the year next succeeding the year in which this subdivi-
    15  sion as hereby amended becomes effective, in relation  to  an  ambulance
    16  district  or any such contract renewed to continue in effect on or after
    17  such dates, shall provide workers' compensation coverage for all fire or
    18  ambulance district officers, whether elective  or  appointive,  and  all
    19  fire  or  ambulance  district employees, whether or not they are compen-
    20  sated for their services, unless the board of fire or ambulance  commis-
    21  sioners  of the fire district or ambulance district by resolution elects
    22  not to provide such coverage for any one or more  of  such  officers  or
    23  employees,  or class thereof. Such election not to provide such coverage
    24  shall be effective with respect to all such insurance  contracts  there-
    25  after issued to such fire or ambulance district by any insurance carrier
    26  until  revoked in whole or in part by resolution of the board of fire or
    27  ambulance commissioners of the fire or ambulance district. Such election
    28  not to provide such coverage shall not  become  effective  until  thirty
    29  days after a copy of such resolution has been filed with the chairman of
    30  the  workers'  compensation  board  and with the insurance carrier and a
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15874-01-8
        S. 8706                             2
     1  copy thereof is furnished to each officer and employee as to  whom  such
     2  revocation  is  applicable.  The  chairman  of the workers' compensation
     3  board shall prescribe the form of such  resolution.  The  provisions  of
     4  this  subdivision  shall  not  be  applicable  in cases where the injury
     5  arises out of and in the course of duty as a volunteer firefighter or  a
     6  volunteer ambulance worker or as a civil defense volunteer and where the
     7  computation of benefits would be made under the provisions of the volun-
     8  teer firefighters' benefit law or the volunteer ambulance workers' bene-
     9  fit law or under article ten of this chapter.
    10    §  4. Subdivision a of section 94 of the workers' compensation law, as
    11  amended by chapter 635 of the laws  of  1996,  is  amended  to  read  as
    12  follows:
    13    a.    Any employer may, upon complying with subdivision [two or] three
    14  of section fifty of this chapter, withdraw from the fund by  turning  in
    15  his  insurance  contract  for cancellation, provided he or she has given
    16  written notice to the fund of his or her intention to withdraw not  less
    17  than  thirty  days before the effective date of such cancellation.  Upon
    18  receipt of such notice the fund shall, at least ten days  prior  to  the
    19  effective  date  file  in  the  office  of the chairman a notice of such
    20  cancellation date.
    21    In no event shall the insurance contract be deemed cancelled until  at
    22  least ten days after the date of such filing, any earlier date mentioned
    23  in the notice to the contrary notwithstanding.
    24    [If  an  employer withdraws from the fund upon complying with subdivi-
    25  sion two of section fifty of this chapter, the  new  insurance  contract
    26  with  the  stock  corporation,  mutual corporation or reciprocal insurer
    27  shall be deemed not to  take  effect  until  the  cancellation  of  such
    28  employer's contract with the state insurance fund has become effective.]
    29    § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 151 of the workers' compensation law, as
    30  added  by  section  22  of part GG of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is
    31  amended to read as follows:
    32    4. For those affected employers obtaining coverage:
    33    (a) by insuring with the state fund pursuant  to  subdivision  one  of
    34  section  fifty  of  this  chapter;  or (b) [through a policy pursuant to
    35  subdivision two of section fifty of this  chapter;  or  (c)]  through  a
    36  county  self-insurance plan under article five of this chapter; or [(d)]
    37  (c) through a group private or public self-insurer pursuant to  subdivi-
    38  sion  three-a  of section fifty of this chapter, such assessment amounts
    39  shall be collected and remitted to the chair by the carrier or the state
    40  insurance fund, or county plan, or group private or public self-insurer,
    41  on behalf of the employer(s) until such time as the board establishes  a
    42  direct  employer  payment  process. Affected private or public employers
    43  providing compensation through self insurance  pursuant  to  subdivision
    44  three  of  section  fifty  of  this chapter shall pay assessment amounts
    45  directly to the chair.
    46    § 6. Subdivision 5 of section 157 of the workers' compensation law, as
    47  added by chapter 24 of the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:
    48    5. "[Subdivisions] Subdivision one [and two]  of  section  fifty",  as
    49  used in section one hundred fifty-one of this chapter, includes subdivi-
    50  sion  nine  of section thirty of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law
    51  and subdivision nine of section thirty of the volunteer ambulance  work-
    52  ers' benefit law.
    53    §  7.  This act shall take effect on the three hundred sixty-sixth day
    54  after it shall have become a law.