Representative Oelslager's Bureau of Workers' Compensation Budget Bill Passes Ohio House

Today, State Rep. Scott Oelslager (R-North Canton) and the Ohio House have passed House Bill 75, which enacts the FY 22-23 Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) budget. The bill, including federal grants, is approximately $715 million over the biennium. Oelslager is the sponsor of the legislation and spoke to it on the House floor.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve accomplished within our various committees on all the budget bills over this past year,” said Oelslager. “Along with the state and transportation budgets, the BWC budget solidifies responsible funding of insurance for our public and private employers to properly cover workers’ compensation across Ohio.”

BWC provides workers' compensation insurance to all public and private employers except for those who qualify for self-insurance. BWC covered over 249,000 Ohio employers in FY2020 and paid about $1.35 billion on about 71,500 claims.

The BWC budget includes $35.0 million in each fiscal year for Safety Grants. Other provisions of the legislation includes:

• Wage continuation parity- If receiving wage continuation, claimant cannot simultaneously apply for permanent partial and cannot apply until there is a 26 week period after continuation has stopped.
• Permanent Total Disability – If a claimant had an application denied, the claimant cannot file a new application unless there is new circumstances. This is current practice but this language codifies it.
• Statute of Limitations for Occupational Diseases - Like all other injuries, moves statute of limitations for occupational diseases from two years to one year from date of injury or a disease diagnosis. This is consistent with the changes made for traumatic injuries in violation of safety requirements.
• Grants power of attorney to counsel to sign checks on behalf of claimant. Currently the claimant’s attorney cannot sign the check, even if they have power of attorney. This streamlines the process and does not require the check be sent to the claimant but instead the attorney can receive it, sign it, get claimant to sign it, and disburse the funds accordingly. This will get the injured worker their compensation quicker.

The bill was supported in the committee process as it was unanimously voted out and had proponent testimony from organizations including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, NFIB, and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

House Bill 75 now heads to the Senate for further consideration.