FIRST RESPONDER PRESUMED COVERAGE H.B. 4172 (H-1):
SUMMARY OF BILL
REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE
House Bill 4172 (Substitute H-1 as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Representative Jeff Yaroch
Senate Committee: Insurance and Banking
CONTENT
The bill would amend Chapter 4 (Occupational Diseases and Disablements) of the Worker's Disability Compensation Act to require, beginning January 1, 2022, a part-time, paid on-call, or volunteer, or former part-time, paid on-call, or volunteer, member of a fire department or public fire authority to suspend a workers' compensation claim and instead claim like benefits from the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund for respiratory tract, bladder, skin, brain, kidney, blood, thyroid, testicular, prostate, lymphatic, ovarian, breast, or non-HPV cervical cancer.
MCL 418.405 Legislative Analyst: Stephen Jackson
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill likely would result in increased costs from the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund to support additional claims and administrative costs in the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. The bill would allow part-time, paid-on-call, or volunteer member of a fire department or authority who had more than 60 months of active service to be eligible for compensation and include both current and former members. The bill would increase the population that is eligible to file claims from the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund, from 7,600 to around 30,000 current employees; it is unknown how many former employees also would be eligible.
The Workers' Disability Compensation Agency oversees administration of the Fund with support from vendors. In calendar year 2020, the Fund supported 21 claims and spent $379,039 to support those claims. The Department anticipates calendar year 2021 costs to total $407,000 for claims. The Department also anticipates additional payments to vendors to support administration of the claims equal to 1.5 FTEs.
Beginning in 2020, the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund receives annual deposits of $2.0 million each from the Internet Sports Betting Fund and Internet Gaming Fund, after the deposits are made to the Compulsive Gaming Prevention Fund. The $4.0 million deposits into the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund each year. The total costs to cover the administration and claims for the expanded population is unknown, but the bill could increase these costs to greater than the annual $4.0 million deposits into the Fund.
Date Completed: 10-29-21 Fiscal Analyst: Cory Savino
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.