04/19/2005 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE

              SB 169-WORKERS' COMPENSATION RECORDS                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR CON BUNDE announced SB 169 to be up for consideration.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR THERRIAULT,  sponsor, said  SB 169 is  intended to close  a                                                             
loophole  in  the privacy  statutes  with  regards  to information                                                              
that is collected  by the Workers'  Compensation system. Currently                                                              
it makes it  illegal for an attorney  to contact an injured worker                                                              
to solicit  business to represent  that person  in the system.  But                                                             
language  does not  make  it clear  that state  agencies  have  the                                                             
power  to  withhold  certain  requests  for  information  from  the                                                             
system  that can  be used  to make  those solicitations.  The bill                                                              
does   not  intend   to  inhibit   disclosure  of   public  record                                                              
information regarding  the specific claim  to a newspaper reporter                                                              
or an  insurer  seeking names  of employers  who are  uninsured  to                                                             
provide the  workers' compensation  insurance. It  just intends  to                                                             
keep the individual's information from being sold.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  THERRIAULT  gave  the  committee  some background  saying                                                              
that  an  injured  Alaska  worker  was contacted  by  out-of-state                                                              
attorneys who  had received information  about his claim. They  did                                                             
not take  his case,  because, he surmised,  it was  not for enough                                                              
money. Senator Therriault said:                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
     This is just  a clear case of the  type of activity that                                                                   
     we don't  want to happen and if  we want to prevent that                                                                   
     from  happening, we  need to make  it very  clear in the                                                                   
     statute  that  the state  agency,  and  specifically the                                                                   
     Workers'   Comp   system,   can   refuse   to   disburse                                                                   
     information   that  would  be  used   by  these  outside                                                                   
     sources.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
1:55:11 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR   SEEKINS  proposed   an   immediate  effective   date   as                                                             
Amendment 1.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR THERRIAULT said that was okay with him.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  SEEKINS  moved   conceptual  Amendment  1  to  insert   an                                                             
immediate effective  date. There were  no objections and Amendment                                                              
1 was adopted.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
1:56:06 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR   SEEKINS  moved   CSSB   169(L&C)  from   committee  with                                                              
individual  recommendations  and attached  fiscal  notes. Senators                                                              
Ben  Stevens, Seekins,  Davis,  Ellis and  Chair Bunde  voted yea;                                                              
and CSSB 169(L&C) moved from committee.