Senate committee advances WSI clarifications, raises survivor benefit cap in SB 2109

Senate Industry and Business Committee members voted to accept an amendment and give a due-pass recommendation to Senate Bill 2109, a Workforce Safety and Insurance package that would add definitions, allow electronic service of notices in the dispute process, and increase benefit and scholarship caps.

The bill responds to a recent state Supreme Court decision that invalidated an administrative rule WSI used to limit compensability for some mental and psychological conditions. Sponsors and WSI told the committee the measure would put the clarifying language into statute, align related appeal filing language, and modernize notice procedures by allowing recipients to opt in to electronic service.

WSI representative Tim Wallin testified the changes are intended to make the statutory language consistent with longstanding WSI practice and with a separate reapplication provision already codified elsewhere in statute. “Adding the proposed language to the definition of disability, which requires actual earnings be lost as a result of the work injury, will…