JEFFERSON CITY — One of the Senate’s priorities this session is making Missouri a business-friendly state, opening our borders to out-of-state businesses to make their homes in Missouri, and reducing the red tape of procedures and fees.
The Second Injury Fund currently has 30,000 cases waiting to be paid, along with settlements of more than $700 million. The result is that the SIF is now insolvent and more than $28 million dollars in debt with no means to pay its current or new cases. The legislature needed to address problems in Missouri’s Second Injury Fund (SIF). The SIF was created in 1943 as an incentive for employers to hire previously disabled people while also protecting businesses from further liability in a workplace accident. However, with the declining economy over the last several years, the Second Injury Fund was taking in fewer funds.
Recently, the Senate approved Senate Bill 1 and sent it to the House for consideration. The bill would adjust the surcharge rate employers pay for their Workers’ Compensation premiums from the cap established in 2005 of 3 percent to 4.5 percent for the remainder of 2013, and alter this rate slowly up to 6 percent as long as the SIF is underfunded. These additional surcharges would expire in December 2020. The second step would be to eliminate funding for partial disabilities and focus on those who have suffered permanent, total disabilities.
An aspect of the measure that received a lot of debate was occupational diseases. Currently, all occupational diseases are covered exclusively under Workers’ Compensation. Senate Bill 1 would separate occupational diseases into two tiers and better define how funds would be dispersed according to the type of illness presented. This is important because the second tier contains only one “occupational disease due to toxic exposure” — mesothelioma, or cancer typically caused by exposure to asbestos — and would have an expanded benefit.
By modifying the definitions of the Second Injury Fund, adjusting the previous caps on surcharges when funds fall short, and allowing the correct programs to take on their own claims, lawmakers take the important first steps to make the SIF solvent again, giving the program every opportunity to provide funds to Missourians in need. Employers will breathe easier with the bill in place knowing that any liability issues that could hurt their bottom line are adequately addressed, and employees have the opportunity to actually receive aid from this 70-year-old program, instead of a constant denial of their claims due to insufficient funds.
Senate Bill 1 is the culmination of more than two years of work between lawmakers, business interest groups, citizen groups, attorneys and physicians. Provisions in this bill will help ensure the best quality places to work for citizens of the Show-Me State.
As always, please feel free to contact me or my staff with any questions or concerns at any time. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions and trying to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at 866-277-0882 (toll-free) or 573-751-2272, or by fax at 573-526-7381. |
