Bill Text: TX HB493 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to death benefits paid under the workers' compensation system.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-02-23 - Referred to Business & Industry [HB493 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB493-Introduced.html
| 88R2611 KKR-F | ||
| By: Meza | H.B. No. 493 | |
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| 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, 2023. | ||
