NY State Senate Bill 2023-S6115

Senate Bill S6115

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Specifies methods of calculating deposits and reserves for the aggregate trust fund and reserves of the state insurance fund

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to labor
Mar 30, 2023	referred to labor

2023-S6115 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Workers' Compensation Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§27 & 86, Work Comp L; amd §§1108 & 4117, Ins L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S6266

2023-S6115 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Specifies methods of calculating deposits and reserves for the aggregate trust fund and reserves of the state insurance fund; provides that all computations made or directed by the workers' compensation board shall be on the basis of the survivorship annuitants table of mortality, the remarriage tables of the Dutch Royal Insurance Institution applicable to claims for accidents occurring on or before December 31, 2023, and beginning January 1, 2024 and on January 1 of each tenth year thereafter, the United States life table for the total population published by the department of health and human services and the remarriage table published by the department of health and human services and the remarriage table published by the United States railroad retirement board applicable to claims for accidents occurring on or after January first of the year following the adoption of any revision of such tables; makes related provisions.

2023-S6115 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6115

SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the workers' compensation law and the insurance law, in
relation to specifying methods of calculating deposits and reserves for
the aggregate trust fund and reserves of the state insurance fund

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 5 of section 27 of workers' compensation
law changing the computation of payments into the Aggregated Trust Fund
to use modern mortality and remarriage tables utilized by the Department
of Health and human services and published by the United States railroad
retirement board.

Section 2 amends subdivision 7 of section 27 of workers' compensation
law to further state that the computed payment amount based on the
updated computation formula shall be applicable to the calculation of
the deposit for the claim on which such deposit is based.

Section 3 amends section 86 of workers' compensation law by changing the

reserve discount rate used to calculate reserve levels for the State
Insurance Fund's Workers' Compensation Fund. It removes the requirement
that the state insurance fund reserves be discounted by 5% and instead
uses the same reserve standard applied to private workers' compensation
insurers.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The State Insurance Fund (SIF) is the largest provider of workers'
compensation insurance in New York State. Its solvency is key for New
Yorkers and its businesses to always have a lifeline in case of injury
or disability. Currently SIF uses a century old mortality and remarriage
table to compute deposits into the Aggregated Trust Fund.  The current
table is out-dated and has led to an under payment of deposits into the
fund. Similarly, the current rate it applies for its workers' compen-
sation fund (WCF) needs updating too. SW argues that WCF's reserves are
currently set at a discounted rate of five percent but that such reserve
was set in 1989 when interest rates were higher than they are now.

This bill would address both issues by permitting SIF to use modem
mortality and remarriage tables to calculate deposits and reserves for
the Aggregate Trust Fund, and by removing that discounted rate and using
the same reserve standard private workers' compensation insurers use
under the Insurance Law.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2022: S.6266 (Ramos)/A.7505 (Joyner)

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill would take effect January 1, 2024.

2023-S6115 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6115
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 30, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
 
 AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law and the insurance law,  in
   relation  to  specifying  methods of calculating deposits and reserves
   for the aggregate trust fund and reserves of the state insurance fund

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  5 of section 27 of the workers' compensation
 law, as amended by chapter 6 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read  as
 follows:
   5.  All  computations  made OR DIRECTED by the board shall be upon the
 basis of (I) the survivorship annuitants table of mortality, the  remar-
 riage  tables  of  the  Dutch  Royal Insurance Institution APPLICABLE TO
 CLAIMS FOR ACCIDENTS OCCURRING ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER  THIRTY-FIRST,  TWO
 THOUSAND  TWENTY-THREE,  AND  (II) BEGINNING JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND
 TWENTY-FOUR, AND ON JANUARY FIRST OF EACH  TENTH  YEAR  THEREAFTER,  THE
 UNITED  STATES  LIFE  TABLE  FOR  THE  TOTAL POPULATION PUBLISHED BY THE
 DEPARTMENT OF  HEALTH  AND  HUMAN  SERVICES  AND  THE  REMARRIAGE  TABLE
 PUBLISHED  BY  THE UNITED STATES RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD APPLICABLE TO
 CLAIMS FOR ACCIDENTS OCCURRING ON OR AFTER JANUARY  FIRST  OF  THE  YEAR
 FOLLOWING  THE  ADOPTION  OF  ANY REVISION OF SUCH TABLES AS PROVIDED IN
 THIS SUBDIVISION and interest at three and one-half per centum per annum
 on claims based on accidents occurring up to and including June  thirti-
 eth,  nineteen  hundred  thirty-nine,  at  three per centum per annum on
 claims based on accidents occurring from July  first,  nineteen  hundred
 thirty-nine  up  to  and including August thirty-first, nineteen hundred
 eighty-three, at six per centum per annum on claims based  on  accidents
 occurring  from September first, nineteen hundred eighty-three up to and
 including December thirty-first, two thousand and at the industry stand-
 ard rate on claims based on accidents occurring thereafter,  except  (a)
 that  computations  of  present  values of death benefits required to be
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06279-01-3

 S. 6115                             2
 
 paid into the aggregate trust fund by an insurance carrier  which  is  a
 stock corporation or a mutual association shall be based, in the case of
 a  dependent  parent, grandparent, blind or physically disabled child or
 spouse,  upon said table of mortality disregarding possible change in or
 termination of dependency, with  interest  at  three  and  one-half  per
 centum  per  annum  on  claims  based  on  accidents occurring up to and
 including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred  thirty-nine,  at  three  per
 centum per annum on claims based on accidents occurring from July first,
 nineteen  hundred  thirty-nine  up to and including August thirty-first,
 nineteen hundred eighty-three, at six per centum  per  annum  on  claims
 based  on  accidents  occurring  from  September first, nineteen hundred
 eighty-three up to and including December thirty-first, two thousand and
 at the industry standard rate on claims  based  on  accidents  occurring
 thereafter  and  (b)  that  computations  of present values of permanent
 partial disability benefits awarded for a definite number of weeks shall
 be on the basis of annuities certain with interest at three and one-half
 per centum per annum on claims based on accidents occurring  up  to  and
 including  June  thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred thirty-nine, at three per
 centum per annum on claims based on accidents occurring from July first,
 nineteen hundred thirty-nine up to and  including  August  thirty-first,
 nineteen  hundred  eighty-three,  at  six per centum per annum on claims
 based on accidents occurring  from  September  first,  nineteen  hundred
 eighty-three up to and including December thirty-first, two thousand and
 at  the  industry  standard  rate on claims based on accidents occurring
 thereafter.
   § 2. The closing paragraph of subdivision 7 of section 27 of the work-
 ers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 6 of the laws of  2007  and
 as further amended by section 104 of part A of chapter 62 of the laws of
 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   Such  additional  payments  shall be required until the surplus of the
 fund equals or exceeds one per centum  of  the  total  outstanding  loss
 reserves  as shown by three successive annual reports of the fund to the
 superintendent of financial services and such additional  payment  shall
 be  required as a payment upon each award based on an accident occurring
 prior to July first next succeeding the third such  annual  report,  but
 not  as  a  payment  upon any award based on an accident occurring on or
 after said July first; provided, however, that if and when  the  surplus
 of  the fund as shown by any annual report thereafter shall be less than
 one per centum of the total outstanding loss reserves,  then  the  addi-
 tional  payments as provided in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this
 subdivision shall be resumed and shall be payable upon any  award  based
 on  an  accident  occurring  on  or after July first next succeeding the
 close of the year for which such annual report is made. Thereafter,  the
 suspension  or  resumption  of  additional  payments as required by this
 subdivision shall be governed by the  foregoing  provisions.  Such  loss
 reserves  shall  be computed based upon the tables specified in subdivi-
 sion five of this section APPLICABLE TO THE CALCULATION OF  THE  DEPOSIT
 FOR  THE CLAIM ON WHICH SUCH DEPOSIT IS BASED and interest at a standard
 to be determined by the superintendent of financial  services  by  regu-
 lation.
   §  3. Section 86 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by chap-
 ter 7 of the laws of 1989 and as further amended by section 104 of  part
 A of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   §  86. Catastrophe surplus and reserves for workers' compensation. Ten
 per centum of the premiums collected from employers insured in the  fund
 for  workers'  compensation  shall  be  set  aside for the creation of a
 S. 6115                             3
 
 surplus until such surplus shall amount to the sum of one hundred  thou-
 sand  dollars,  and  thereafter  five per centum of such premiums, until
 such time as in the judgment of the commissioners such surplus shall  be
 sufficiently  large  to  cover  the  catastrophe  hazard. Thereafter the
 contribution to such surplus may be reduced or discontinued  conditional
 upon constant maintenance of a sufficient surplus to cover the catastro-
 phe  hazard.  Reserves  shall  be set up and maintained adequate to meet
 anticipated losses and carry all claims and policies to maturity,  which
 reserves  shall  be  computed  [to  reflect  the present values, at five
 percent interest per annum, of the determined and estimated unpaid loss-
 es, and other requirements computed in accordance  with  such  rules  as
 shall  be approved by the superintendent of financial services] PURSUANT
 TO SUBSECTIONS (D) AND (E) OF SECTION FOUR THOUSAND ONE  HUNDRED  SEVEN-
 TEEN OF THE INSURANCE LAW.
   §  4.  Subsection (c) of section 1108 of the insurance law, as amended
 by section 38 of part SS of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016,  is  amended
 to read as follows:
   (c)  The  state  insurance  fund  of  this  state,  except  as  to the
 provisions of subsection (d) of section two thousand three hundred thir-
 ty-nine, section three thousand one hundred ten, subsection  (a),  para-
 graph  one  of  subsection  (b),  paragraph  three of subsection (c) and
 subsection (d) of section three thousand two hundred one, sections three
 thousand two hundred two, three thousand two hundred  four,  subsections
 (a)  through  (d)  of  section  three  thousand  two hundred twenty-one,
 SUBSECTIONS (D) AND (E) OF SECTION FOUR THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED  SEVENTEEN,
 subsections  (b)  and  (c)  of section four thousand two hundred twenty-
 four, section four thousand two hundred twenty-six and  subsections  (a)
 and  (b),  (g) through (j), and (n) of section four thousand two hundred
 thirty-five  of  this  chapter  and  except  as  otherwise  specifically
 provided by the laws of this state.
   §  5.  Subsection (e) of section 4117 of the insurance law, as amended
 by chapter 11 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as follows:
   (e) Whenever in the judgment of the superintendent, the loss and  loss
 expense  reserves of any property/casualty insurance company doing busi-
 ness in this state OR OF THE STATE INSURANCE FUND OF THIS  STATE  calcu-
 lated  in  accordance  with  the  foregoing provisions are inadequate or
 excessive, [he] THE SUPERINTENDENT may prescribe any other basis [which]
 THAT will produce adequate and reasonable reserves.
   § 6. This act shall take effect January 1, 2024.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.