A revamp of the state’s workers’ compensation system for Kentucky workers injured on the job in the future is headed to the governor’s desk. House Bill 2 passed the Kentucky House Tuesday on a 55-39 vote.
The bill’s sponsor, Representative Adam Koenig, of Erlanger, says the bill will only make the state more competitive.
House Bill 2 was filed as a response to a 2017 Kentucky Supreme Court ruling in Parker v. Webster County Coal. That ruling declared unconstitutional the state workers’ compensation system’s practice of terminating workers’ comp income benefits once an injured worker qualifies for normal Social Security retirement benefits.
When the bill was amended in the Senate last week, Senate President Robert Stivers, of Manchester, described the bill as providing “a fair system for which workers who are injured will be paid.”
Under HB 2, as amended by the Senate, workers’ compensation medical benefits would have to be paid to certain permanently partially disabled workers beyond 15 years if a state administrative law judge deems the benefits medically necessary. The bill would also add to the list of injuries for which benefits must be paid as long as there is a disability, among other provisions.
An additional change made by the Senate and greed to by the House would extend the period for all workers’ comp income benefits to age 70 or four years after the date of the injury, whichever comes last.
HB 2 was amended and passed by the Senate last week on a 23-14 vote.
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