Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
04/26/2007 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB140 | |
| SB102 | |
| SB28 | |
| SB118 | |
| HB121 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 118 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 121 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 140 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 102 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 28 | TELECONFERENCED | |
CSHB 121(L&C)am-WORKERS' COMPENSATION RECORDS
2:58:45 PM
CHAIR ELLIS announced CSHB 121(L&C)am to be up for
consideration.
CLIFF STONE, staff to Representative Peggy Wilson, sponsor of
CSHB 121(L&C)am, said this bill is important because it protects
private information that anyone can now call up the Division and
Workers' Compensation and get - names, addresses, social
security numbers, Email numbers and phone numbers.
3:01:27 PM
CHAIR ELLIS asked Mr. Lisankie to relate how the state lost a
court case and why that inspired this legislation.
PAUL LISANKIE, Director, Division of Workers' Compensation,
Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD), replied
that about two years ago due to concerns about information being
requested from the division, legislation was passed indicating
one could get workers' compensation information for purposes of
determining liabilities and rights under the act, but not for
commercial purposes unrelated to the Workers' Compensation Act.
Some requests for information were denied and the division was
sued under Public Records Act by a law firm from Detroit,
Michigan. It was heard by the Superior Court in Juneau and the
division lost. Existing language became restricted in scope by
the court order, which was not appealed.
3:03:55 PM
CHAIR ELLIS asked if someone could speak to the $292,000 fiscal
note.
3:04:31 PM
MR. LISANKIE replied that he could and explained that originally
all the personally identifying information in his records was
going to be banned from disclosure. He decided that he would not
require additional staff, but now with the amendment they would
have to go through and manually black out certain information
like social security numbers on a case by case basis. That would
require extra staff.
CHAIR ELLIS asked if he was talking about hard copy as opposed
to electronic information.
3:05:30 PM
MR. LISANKIE replied there are both paper and electronic
records. He gets many requests for hard copies.
CHAIR ELLIS wanted to know what was real and what was
speculative in information requests. There is the issue of a law
firm requesting records to presumably contact people in the
industry over a workers' compensation claim and employers in
Alaska asking for this information to possibly use against or
blackball a perspective employee based on past findings of
workers' compensation claims.
3:07:12 PM
MR. LISANKIE replied that he often gets requests (frequently
from out-of-state) from employee screening companies wanting to
know if a Mr. Jones, for instance, has reported any injuries in
the state of Alaska. They bundle this information to either sell
or to help a company with its hiring process. He said in Alaska
it is illegal to discriminate against someone for filing or
receiving workers' compensation. The remedy, though, is a damage
suit in civil court. He added that the requests also include
information about employers and when their insurance policies
ran out. So he thought that information was for insurance
companies.
CHAIR ELLIS thanked Mr. Lisankie and said HB 121 would be held
over.
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