Provides that assessments of self-insurers, the state insurance fund, and all insurance carriers for the workers' compensation special disability fund shall be based on 110%, rather than 150%, of total disbursements from the fund during the preceding calendar year, less the amount of the fund's net assets as of December 31st of such preceding calendar year.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
786
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 9, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to the
assessment upon self-insurers, the state insurance fund, and all
insurance carriers to fund the special disability fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraph 4 of paragraph (h) of subdivision 8 of section
2 15 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by section 1 of part QQ
3 of chapter 56 of the laws of 2009, the opening paragraph, clause (A),
4 and clause (B) as amended by section 1 of part G of chapter 57 of the
5 laws of 2011, and clause (B) as further amended by section 104 of part A
6 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
7 (4) As soon as practicable after May first in the year nineteen
8 hundred fifty-eight, and annually thereafter as soon as practicable
9 after January first in each succeeding year, the chair of the board
10 shall assess upon and collect from all self-insurers, the state insur-
11 ance fund, and all insurance carriers (A) a sum equal to one hundred
12 [fifty] ten per centum of the total disbursements made from the special
13 disability fund during the preceding calendar year (not including any
14 disbursements made on account of anticipated liabilities or waiver
15 agreements funded by bond proceeds and related earnings), less the
16 amount of the net assets in such fund as of December thirty-first of
17 said preceding calendar year, and (B) a sum sufficient to cover debt
18 service, and associated costs (the "debt service assessment") to be paid
19 during the calendar year by the dormitory authority, as calculated in
20 accordance with subparagraph five of this paragraph. Such assessments
21 shall be allocated to (i) self-insurers and the state insurance fund
22 based upon the proportion that the total compensation payments made by
23 all self-insurers and the state insurance fund bore to the total compen-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03819-01-3
A. 786 2
1 sation payments made by all self-insurers, the state insurance fund, and
2 all insurance carriers, and (ii) insurance carriers based upon the
3 proportion that the total compensation payments made by all insurance
4 carriers bore to the total compensation payments by all self-insurers,
5 the state insurance fund and all insurance carriers during the fiscal
6 year which ended within said preceding calendar year. Insurance carri-
7 ers and self-insurers shall be liable for all such assessments regard-
8 less of the date on which they came into existence, or whether they have
9 made any claim for reimbursement from the special disability fund. The
10 portion of such sum allocated to self-insurers and the state insurance
11 fund that shall be collected from each self-insurer and the state insur-
12 ance fund shall be a sum equal to the proportion of the amount which the
13 total compensation payments of each such self-insurer or the state
14 insurance fund bore to the total compensation payments made by all self-
15 insurers and the state insurance fund during the fiscal year which ended
16 within said preceding calendar year. The portion of such sum allocated
17 to insurance carriers that shall be collected from each insurance carri-
18 er shall be a sum equal to that proportion of the amount which the total
19 standard premium by each such insurance carrier bore to the total stand-
20 ard premium reported by all insurance carriers during the calendar year
21 which ended within said preceding fiscal year. The payments from the
22 debt service assessment, unless otherwise set forth in the special disa-
23 bility fund financing agreement, are hereby pledged therefor and shall
24 be deemed the first monies received on account of assessments in each
25 year. For the purposes of this paragraph, "standard premium" shall mean
26 the premium as defined for the purposes of this assessment by the super-
27 intendent of financial services, in consultation with the chair of the
28 board and the workers' compensation rating board. An employer who has
29 ceased to be a self-insurer shall continue to be liable for any assess-
30 ments into said fund on account of any compensation payments made by him
31 or her on his or her account during such fiscal year, and the security
32 fund, created under the provisions of section one hundred seven of this
33 chapter, shall, in the event of the insolvency of any insurance company,
34 be liable for any assessments that would have been made against such
35 company except for its insolvency. No assessment shall be payable from
36 the aggregate trust fund, created under the provisions of section twen-
37 ty-seven of this article, but such fund shall continue to be liable for
38 all compensation that shall be payable under any award or order of the
39 board, the commuted value of which has been paid into such fund. Such
40 assessments when collected shall be deposited with the commissioner of
41 taxation and finance for the benefit of such fund. Unless otherwise
42 provided, such assessments, shall not constitute an element of loss for
43 the purpose of establishing rates for compensation insurance but shall
44 for the purpose of collection be treated as separate costs by carriers.
45 All insurance carriers and the state insurance fund, shall collect such
46 assessments, from their policyholders through a surcharge based on
47 premiums in accordance with rules set forth by the superintendent of
48 financial services in consultation with the New York workers' compen-
49 sation rating board and the chair of the board. Such surcharge shall be
50 considered as part of premium for purposes prescribed by law including,
51 but not limited to, computing premium tax, reporting to the superinten-
52 dent of financial services pursuant to section ninety-nine of this chap-
53 ter and section three hundred seven of the insurance law, determining
54 the limitation of expenditures for the administration of the state
55 insurance fund pursuant to section eighty-eight of this chapter and the
56 cancellation by an insurance carrier, including the state insurance
A. 786 3
1 fund, of a policy for non-payment of premium. The provisions of this
2 paragraph shall not apply with respect to policies containing coverage
3 pursuant to subsection (j) of section three thousand four hundred twenty
4 of the insurance law relating to every policy providing comprehensive
5 personal liability insurance on a one, two, three or four family owner-
6 occupied dwelling. The state insurance fund shall notify its insureds
7 that such assessments, shall be, for the purpose of recoupment, treated
8 as separate costs, for the purpose of premiums billed on or after Octo-
9 ber first, nineteen hundred ninety-four. For the purposes of this
10 section, a "self-insurer" shall be: (i) an employer authorized to self-
11 insure under subdivision three of section fifty of this chapter, active
12 groups authorized pursuant to subdivision three-a of section fifty of
13 this chapter or a group of employers authorized to self-insure under
14 paragraph ten of subdivision three-a of section fifty of this chapter;
15 or (ii) a public employer authorized as set forth in paragraph a of
16 subdivision four of section fifty of this chapter to self-insure under
17 subdivision three, three-a or four of such section or article five of
18 this chapter, whether individually or as a group.
19 For the purposes of this paragraph, except as otherwise provided: the
20 term "insurance carrier" shall include only stock corporations, mutual
21 corporations and reciprocal insurers authorized to transact the business
22 of workers' compensation insurance in this state; the term "self-insur-
23 er" shall include any employer or group of employers permitted to pay
24 compensation directly under the provisions of subdivision three, three-a
25 or four of section fifty of this chapter.
26 The board is hereby authorized to issue credits or refunds as neces-
27 sary, in the case of overpayments made to the fund. An insurance carrier
28 that knowingly underreports premiums for the purposes of this section
29 shall be guilty of a class E felony.
30 § 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2014.
