bill ties workers’ comp death benefits to inflation

The text as introduced · 328 words

89R4769 DNC-F

By: Meza
H.B. No. 1292

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a cost-of-living increase applicable to death benefits

paid under the workers' compensation system.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 408.181, Labor Code, is amended by

amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as

follows:

(b) Subject to Section 408.061, the amount of a death

benefit is equal to 75 percent of the employee's average weekly

wage. Notwithstanding Section 408.061, the amount of a death

benefit is adjusted in accordance with Subsection (b-1) each

calendar year as necessary to reflect inflation.

(b-1) Not later than November 1 of each year, the

commissioner shall set the rate of the adjustment described by

Subsection (b) for the next calendar year to equal the percentage

increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners

and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) most recently published by the Bureau

of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor and

used by the United States Social Security Administration to provide

a cost-of-living adjustment for social security benefit payments

payable beginning in January of the next year. Not later than

January 1 of each year, an insurance carrier shall recompute the

amount of a death benefit to be paid under this section by applying

the adjustment computed by the commissioner under this subsection

to the amount otherwise required to be paid under Subsection (b).

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to a claim for workers' compensation benefits based on a

compensable injury that occurs on or after the effective date of

this Act. A claim based on a compensable injury that occurs before

the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on

the date the compensable injury occurred, and the former law is

continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.