WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on
A BILL to amend and
reenact §33-2-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
granting the Insurance Commissioner the authority to regulate and penalize self-insured
employers; providing for monetary penalties; and permitting noncompliant self-insured
employers to become compliant without penalty.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §33-2-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. INSURANCE COMMISSIONER.
§33-2-21. Authority of Insurance Commissioner to
regulate workers' compensation industry and
self-insured employers; authority of Insurance Commissioner to administer
chapter twenty-three of the Code of West Virginia.
(a) Upon the termination of
the Workers' Compensation Commission pursuant to chapter twenty-three of this
code, the powers and duties heretofore imposed upon the Workers' Compensation
Commission as they relate to general administration of the provisions of
said that chapter are hereby transferred to and imposed upon the
Insurance Commissioner.
(b) Unless otherwise
specified in chapter twenty-three of this code, upon termination of the
Workers' Compensation Commission, the duties imposed upon the Workers'
Compensation Commission as they relate to the award and payment of disability
and death benefits and the review of claims in articles four and five of said
that chapter will be imposed upon the Employers Mutual Insurance Company
established pursuant to article two-c of said that chapter, a
private carrier offering workers' compensation insurance in this state and self-insured
employers. Whenever reference is made to
the Workers' Compensation Commissioner in those articles, the duty prescribed
shall apply to the Employers Mutual Insurance Company, a private carrier or
self-insured employer, as applicable.
(c) From the effective date
of this enactment, the Insurance Commissioner shall regulate all insurers
licensed to transact workers' compensation insurance in this state and all
of the provisions of this chapter shall apply to such applies to
those insurers, unless otherwise exempted by statute.
(d) Notwithstanding any
provision of the code to the contrary the Insurance Commissioner shall regulate
all self-insured employers in this state and this chapter shall apply to those
insurers from the effective date of this subsection. Upon notice of
noncompliance of this chapter by the Insurance Commissioner, a self-insured
employer has ninety days to come into compliance. Thereafter, a noncompliant self-insured
employer is subject to the penalties permitted by section six, article eleven
of this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to grant the Insurance Commissioner the power to regulate
and penalize self-insured employers. The bill also permits noncompliant
employers to be compliant without penalty within ninety days after receiving
notice of noncompliance. The bill also
provides for monetary penalties.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.