Act No. 190

Public Acts of 2007

Approved by the Governor

December 20, 2007

Filed with the Secretary of State

December 21, 2007

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 21, 2007

STATE OF MICHIGAN

94TH LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2007

Introduced by Reps. Scott, Cheeks, Leland, Johnson, Espinoza, Polidori, Gonzales, Lemmons, Coulouris, Young and Dean

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 5493

AN ACT to amend 1969 PA 317, entitled "An act to revise and consolidate the laws relating to worker's disability compensation; to increase the administrative efficiency of the adjudicative processes of the worker's compensation system; to improve the qualifications of the persons having adjudicative functions within the worker's compensation system; to prescribe certain powers and duties; to create the board of worker's compensation magistrates and the worker's compensation appellate commission; to create certain other boards; to provide certain procedures for the resolution of claims, including mediation and arbitration; to prescribe certain benefits for persons suffering a personal injury under the act; to prescribe certain limitations on obtaining benefits under the act; to create, and provide for the transfer of, certain funds; to prescribe certain fees; to prescribe certain remedies and penalties; to repeal certain parts of this act on specific dates; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts," by amending sections 352 and 391 (MCL418.352 and 418.391), as amended by 1984 PA 46.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 352. (1) An employee receiving or entitled to receive benefits equal to the maximum payable to that employee under section 351 or the dependent of a deceased employee receiving or entitled to receive benefits under section 321 whose benefits are based on a date of personal injury between September 1, 1965, and December 31, 1979, shall be entitled to a supplement to weekly compensation. The supplement shall be computed using the total annual percentage change in the state average weekly wage, rounded to the nearest 1/10 of 1%, as determined under section 355. The supplement shall be computed as a percentage of the weekly compensation rate that the employee or the dependent of a deceased employee is receiving or is entitled to receive on January 1, 1982 had the employee been receiving benefits at that time, rounded to the nearest dollar. The supplement shall not exceed 5% compounded for each calendar year in the adjustment period. The percentage change for purposes of the adjustment shall be computed from the base year through December 31, 1981. A supplement shall not be paid retroactively for any period of disability before January 1, 1982.

(2) For personal injuries occurring from September 1, 1965, through December 31, 1968, the base year shall be 1968. For personal injuries occurring between January 1, 1969 and December 31, 1979, the base year shall be the year in which the personal injury occurred.

(3) Pursuant to subsection (1), the director shall announce on December 1, 1981, the supplement percentages payable on January 1, 1982.

(4) All personal injuries found compensable under this act after January 1, 1982 with a personal injury date before January 1, 1980, shall be paid at a rate determined pursuant to this section.

(5) An employee who is eligible to receive differential benefits from the second injury fund shall be paid the supplement pursuant to this section as reduced by the amount of the differential payments being made to the employee by the second injury fund at the time of the payment of the supplement pursuant to this section.

(6) The supplement paid pursuant to this section, when added to the original benefit, shall not exceed the maximum weekly rate of compensation provided in section 355 in effect on the date of the adjustment.

(7) An employee is not entitled to supplements under this section for a personal injury for which the liability has been redeemed.

(8) The supplements under this section shall be paid by an insurer or self-insurer on a weekly basis. The insurer, self-insurer, the second injury fund, and the self-insurers' security fund are entitled to quarterly reimbursement for these payments from the compensation supplement fund in section 391, except that an insurer or self-insurer subject to section 440a of the insurance code of 1956, 1956 PA 218, MCL 500.440a, section 38b of the single business tax act, 1975 PA 228, MCL 208.38b, or section 423 of the Michigan business tax act, 2007 PA 36, MCL 208.1423, shall take a credit under either section 440a of the insurance code of 1956, 1956 PA 218, MCL 500.440a, section 38b of the single business tax act, 1975 PA 228, MCL 208.38b, or section 423 of the Michigan business tax act, 2007 PA 36, MCL 208.1423, as applicable.

(9) This section does not apply to an employee receiving benefits under section 361(1).

(10) An insurer, self-insurer, the second injury fund, or the self-insurers' security fund shall make the supplemental payments required by this section for each quarter of the state's fiscal year that the state treasurer certifies that there are sufficient funds available to meet the obligations of the fund created in section 391 for that quarter. The state treasurer shall certify whether there are sufficient funds in the fund created in section 391 to meet the obligations of that fund for each quarter of the fiscal year of the state on or before the first day of each quarter.

(11) An insurer, self-insurer, the second injury fund, or the self-insurers' security fund shall make the supplemental payments required by this section for the period July 1, 1982 to September 30, 1982 and shall be reimbursed for those payments.

Sec. 391. (1) The compensation supplement fund is created as a separate fund in the state treasury. The fund shall be administered by the state treasurer pursuant to this section. The legislature shall appropriate to the compensation supplement fund from the general fund the amounts necessary to meet the obligations of the compensation supplement fund under section 352, and the administrative costs incurred by the bureau under this section.

(2) The director shall promulgate rules under the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, that prescribe the conditions under which the money in the compensation supplement fund shall be expended pursuant to section 352 and this section.

(3) The department of treasury shall cause to be paid from the compensation supplement fund those amounts and at those times as are prescribed by the director pursuant to subsection (2).

(4) The director may employ the personnel the director considers necessary for the proper administration of the compensation supplement fund.

(5) The director shall annually recommend to the governor and the chairpersons of the senate and house appropriations committees the amount of money the director considers necessary to implement and enforce this section and section 352 during the ensuing fiscal year. The compensation supplement fund may carry forward into a subsequent fiscal year any unexpended funds, and reduce the necessary appropriation by the amount of the unobligated balance in the fund.

(6) Not later than April 1 of each year the director shall submit a report to the governor and the legislature summarizing the transactions of the compensation supplement fund during the preceding calendar year. The report shall identify each insurer and self-insurer that receives a reimbursement payment from the compensation supplement fund and the amount of reimbursement. When all liabilities of the compensation supplement fund for reimbursements required pursuant to section 352 are paid, the director shall recommend to the governor and the legislature that the compensation supplement fund be abolished. The director shall certify to the department of treasury and the commissioner of insurance the identity of each insurer and self-insurer that claims a credit as provided for under section352(8) and the amount of each supplemental payment under section 352 paid by that insurer or self-insurer to which the credit applies.

(7) Pursuant to section 352, insurers and self-insurers not subject to either section 440a of the insurance code of 1956, 1956 PA 218, MCL 500.440a, section 38b of the single business tax act, 1975 PA 228, MCL 208.38b, or section 423 of the Michigan business tax act, 2007 PA 36, MCL 208.1423, the second injury fund, and the self-insurers' security fund are entitled to reimbursement from the compensation supplement fund. An application for reimbursement shall be on the forms and contain information as required by the director. Application for a claim for reimbursement from the compensation supplement fund shall be filed with the director within 3 months after the date on which the right to reimbursement first accrues. After the insurer, self-insurer, the second injury fund, or the self-insurers' security fund has established a right to reimbursement, payment from the compensation supplement fund shall be made without interest on a proper showing every quarter. A reimbursement shall not be allowed for a period that is more than 1 year before the date of the filing of the application for reimbursement pursuant to this section. A reimbursement shall not be allowed for payments made under section 352 for which an insurer or self-insurer takes a credit as provided for in section 352(8).

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Secretary of the Senate

Approved

Governor