Senate Bill No. 203
(By Senator Manchin)
__________
[Introduced March 1, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
__________
A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article five, chapter
sixty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing the
workers' compensation fund to promulgate legislative rules
relating to self-insured employers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article five, chapter sixty-four of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. AUTHORIZATION FOR DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
RESOURCES TO PROMULGATE LEGISLATIVE RULES.
§64-5-6. Office of workers' compensation commissioner Workers'
compensation.
(a) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
fourteenth day of November, one thousand nine hundred eighty-
three, relating to the workers' compensation commissioner
(employers' excess liability fund), are authorized.
(b) The legislative rules filed in the state register on thetwenty-fifth day of October, one thousand nine hundred eighty-
four, relating to the workers' compensation commissioner (time
limits for the administrative proceedings of adjudications and
awards), are authorized.
(c) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
twenty-fifth day of October, one thousand nine hundred eighty-
four, modified by the workers' compensation commissioner to meet
the objections of the legislative rule-making review committee
and refiled in the state register on the ninth day of January,
one thousand nine hundred eighty-five, relating to the workers'
compensation commissioner (self-insured employers), are
authorized.
(d) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
twenty-fifth day of October, one thousand nine hundred eighty-
four, modified by the workers' compensation commissioner to meet
the objections of the legislative rule-making review committee
and refiled in the state register on the fifth day of December,
one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, relating to the workers'
compensation commissioner (payment of attorney's fees), are
authorized.
(e) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
sixth day of August, one thousand nine hundred eighty-five,
relating to the workers' compensation commissioner (standards for
medical examination in occupational pneumoconiosis claims), are
authorized with the amendments set forth below:
On page 1, the second and third unnumbered paragraphs on
page one are amended to read as follows:
"When two or more ventilatory function tests performed in
reasonably close proximity in time produce differing but
acceptable results, the Commissioner, at the request of the O. P.
Board, may direct the parties to furnish additional evidence
and/or order additional testing at the laboratory utilized by the
O. P. Board or other laboratories, all for the purpose of
determining whether any of the results are unreliable or
incorrect or are clearly attributable to some identifiable
disease or illness other than occupational pneumoconiosis."
When blood gas studies are performed and abnormal values are
obtained and thereafter new blood gas studies are performed and
normal or significantly higher values are further obtained, the
Commissioner, at the request of the O. P. Board, may direct the
parties to furnish additional evidence and/or order additional
studies at the laboratory utilized by the O. P. Board or other
laboratories, all for the purpose of determining whether any of
the values are unreliable or incorrect or are clearly
attributable to some identifiable disease or illness other than
occupational pneumoconiosis."
And,
On page 7, paragraph (11) is amended to read as follows:
"(11) It is recognized that arterial blood gas studies done
in laboratories throughout this state are obtained at different
altitudes. Only by 'standardizing' for altitude can an equitable
assessment be made of impairment when values of arterial oxygen
are being measured at remarkably different altitudes. Therefore,
the results reported from laboratories should include the name ofthe laboratory and the date and time of the testing, altitude of
the laboratory and barometric pressure at the laboratory on the
day the samples were collected. The O. P. Board will evaluate
the arterial blood gas values by converting those values to the
average altitude of Charleston, West Virginia. For this purpose,
it shall be sufficient to add 1 mmHg to each arterial oxygen
tension for each 300 feet or fraction thereof that the testing
laboratory is located above the average altitude of Charleston,
because the relationship of barometric pressure (altitude) and
alveolar oxygen is approximately linear up to 4,000 feet as long
as the subject breathes room air.
As an example, Bluefield is located approximately 2,600 feet
above sea level. Charleston is approximately 600 feet above sea
level. Thus, arterial oxygen values obtained in Bluefield should
have 6.67 mmHg added to them before applying the table to them to
obtain 'percent impairment.' The calculations are as follows:
'Bluefield (2,600') minus Charleston (600') equals 2,000'
differential 2,000' divided by 300' altitude equals 6.67
6.67 multiplied by 1 mmHg per 300' altitude equals 6.67
mmHg.'"
(f) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
ninth day of August, one thousand nine hundred eighty-five,
modified by the workers' compensation commissioner to meet the
objections of the legislative rule-making review committee and
refiled in the state register on the fifteenth day of January,
one thousand nine hundred eighty-six, relating to the workers'
compensation commissioner (administration of the coal-workers'pneumoconiosis fund), are authorized.
(g) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
thirtieth day of November, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine,
modified by the division of workers' compensation to meet the
objections of the legislative rule-making review committee and
refiled in the state register on the tenth day of January, one
thousand nine hundred ninety, relating to the division of
workers' compensation (enforcement of reporting and payment
requirements), are authorized.
(h) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
sixteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety,
modified by the division of workers' compensation to meet the
objections of the legislative rule-making review committee and
refiled in the state register on the twenty-third day of January,
one thousand nine hundred ninety, relating to the division of
workers' compensation (self-insured employers), are authorized.
(i) The legislative rules filed in the state register on the
eighteenth day of September, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-two, modified by the workers' compensation fund to meet
the objections of the legislative rule-making review committee
and refiled in the state register on the twenty-first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, relating to the
workers' compensation fund (self-insured employers), are
authorized.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Workers'
Compensation Fund to promulgate legislative rules relating to
self-insured employers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
