Bill Text: TX HB1305 | 2019-2020 | 86th 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) 2019-04-30 - Left pending in committee [HB1305 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB1305-Introduced.html
 
 
  By: Meza H.B. No. 1305
 
 
 
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, 2019.
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