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WSI emphasizes safety, stable finances and seeks one-time IT and facility funds in HB1021 hearing
Summary
Workforce Safety & Insurance Director Art Thompson told the committee WSI remains financially strong, with growing employer accounts and declining claim rates; WSI requested $5.2 million for continued CAPS development, $1.4 million for MyWSI enhancements and $2 million for building repairs in House Bill 1021 testimony.
Art Thompson, director of North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI), presented the agency’s budget overview and one-time requests during the Appropriations — Education & Environment hearing on House Bill 1021.
Why it matters: WSI is a special-fund agency (it receives no general-fund dollars) that administers the state workers’ compensation system and pays benefits from employer-paid premiums. The office’s funding, reserve levels, and IT investments affect employers’ premium rates, injured-worker services, and long-term liabilities for catastrophic claims.
Thompson told the committee WSI covers roughly 27,159 employer accounts and a covered workforce of about 412,000; the agency reported about 17,000 claims filed in the last fiscal year and said claims per 100 covered workers are trending down. He described WSI as…
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