Bill Text: TX HB243 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

Texas House Bill 243 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to death benefits paid under the workers' compensation system.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-02-25 - Referred to Business & Industry [HB243 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB243-Introduced.html

	87R1560 KKR-F

	By: Meza	H.B. No. 243



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to death benefits
	paid under the workers' compensation system.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1. Section 408.181, Labor Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
	follows:
	(b) Subject to Section 408.061, the amount of a death
	benefit is equal to 75 percent of the employee's average weekly
	wage. Notwithstanding Section 408.061, the amount of a death
	benefit is adjusted in accordance with Subsection (b-1) each
	calendar year as necessary to reflect inflation.
	(b-1) Not later than November 1 of each year, the
	commissioner shall set the rate of the adjustment described by
	Subsection (b) for the next calendar year to equal the percentage
	increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners
	and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) most recently published by the Bureau
	of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor and
	used by the United States Social Security Administration to provide
	a cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefit payments
	payable beginning in January of the next year. Not later than
	January 1 of each year, an insurance carrier shall recompute the
	amount of a death benefit to be paid under this section by applying
	the adjustment computed by the commissioner under this subsection
	to the amount otherwise required to be paid under Subsection (b).
	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
	to a claim for workers' compensation benefits based on a
	compensable injury that occurs on or after the effective date of
	this Act. A claim based on a compensable injury that occurs before
	the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on
	the date the compensable injury occurred, and the former law is
	continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.