OHIO LEGISLATIVE SERVICE COMMISSION
Office of Research Legislative Budget
www.lsc.ohio.gov and Drafting Office
H.B. 17 Bill Analysis
134th General Assembly
Click here for H.B. 17’s Fiscal Note
Version: As Introduced
Primary Sponsor: Rep. Patton
Effective Date:
Paul Luzzi, Attorney
SUMMARY
Requires the Administrator of Workers’ Compensation to charge compensation and
benefits paid from the State Insurance Fund on account of a firefighter disabled by
cancer contracted in the course of and arising out of the firefighter’s employment to the
Surplus Fund Account.
Requires a self-insuring employer to deduct compensation and benefits payable on
account of a firefighter disabled by cancer contracted in the course of and arising out of
the firefighter’s employment from the paid compensation the self-insuring employer
reports to the Administrator.
DETAILED ANALYSIS
Treatment of firefighter cancer workers’ compensation claims
Under the Workers’ Compensation Law,1 a firefighter disabled by cancer who has been
assigned to at least six years of hazardous duty and who has been exposed to an agent
classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a group 1 or 2A carcinogen is
presumptively entitled to medical benefits, temporary total disability compensation, working
wage loss, and permanent total disability compensation, as applicable. Additionally, the
firefighter’s dependents are presumptively entitled to death benefits. The firefighter’s
employer can rebut the presumption by presenting certain types of affirmative evidence
specified in the law.
Under the bill, the Administrator of Workers’ Compensation must charge all
compensation and benefits paid from the State Insurance Fund on account of a firefighter’s
1 R.C. Chapters 4121, 4123, 4127, and 4131.
March 8, 2021
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
cancer to the Surplus Fund Account created under continuing law within the State Insurance
Fund, rather than to a state fund employer’s experience. The bill also requires a self-insuring
employer to deduct compensation and benefits payable on account of the firefighter’s cancer
from the paid compensation the self-insuring employer reports to the Administrator under
continuing law.2
A state fund employer is an employer who pays premiums into the State Insurance Fund
to secure workers’ compensation coverage. The employer’s experience in being responsible for
its employees’ workers’ compensation claims may be used in calculating the employer’s
premium (see “Background – calculation of state fund employer premium
rates,” below). Thus, charging compensation and benefits to the Surplus Fund Account in lieu
of the employer’s experience may result in a mitigation of an increase in the employer’s
workers’ compensation premiums as a result of the claim.
A self-insuring employer is an employer who has demonstrated to the Administrator
that the employer has adequate financial and administrative ability to pay compensation and
benefits directly to an employee or the employee’s dependents. A self-insuring employer does
not pay premiums, but remains responsible for the employer’s share of administrative costs
and other assessments for specialized funds. The assessments are calculated using paid
compensation reports annually submitted to the Administrator (see “Background – self-
insuring employer assessments,” below). Deducting compensation and benefits from
the paid compensation a self-insuring employer reports to the Administrator may result in
lowering the assessments paid by the employer.
Background
Calculation of state fund employer premium rates
Ohio law requires the Administrator to fix premiums “sufficiently large” to provide a
fund for the benefits authorized in the Workers’ Compensation Law and “to maintain a state
insurance fund from year to year.” Subject to the approval of the Bureau of Workers’
Compensation Board of Directors, the Administrator classifies occupations or industries with
respect to their degree of hazard, determines the risks of different classes according to the
categories the National Council on Compensation Insurance establishes, and fixes the premium
rates for coverage of the risks based on the total payroll in each classification.3
Premium rates are fixed for each classification based on total payroll. The Administrator
must establish a rate for each classification. To do so, the Administrator compares the total
losses experienced by employers within a classification with the total payroll of that
classification to establish the rate of contribution for employers within that classification. The
system includes two primary categories of premium rates – the basic rate and the experience,
or merit, rate (employers qualify for one or the other). The Administrator calculates the basic
2 R.C. 4123.68(X).
3 R.C. 4123.29(A), not in the bill, and Ohio Administrative Code (O.A.C.) 4123-17-04.
P a g e |2 H.B. 330
As Introduced
Office of Research and Drafting LSC Legislative Budget Office
rate for each of the classifications of occupations, and the Administrator does not include any
individual employer’s experience when calculating basic rates. If an employer is experienced-
rated, the employer’s rate is determined by modifying the basic rate applicable to the employer
by the employer’s experience of losses incurred and premiums paid.4 A premium is expressed
as an amount for each $100 of payroll. Rates are revised annually on July 1, and employers pay
premiums in accordance with the schedule specified in the Workers’ Compensation Law and in
rules adopted by the Administrator.5
Self-insuring employer assessments
The Administrator separately calculates each self-insuring employer’s assessment for
administrative costs, the Safety and Hygiene Fund, and the Surplus Fund Account. Each
assessment is calculated on the basis of the paid compensation reported by the self-insuring
employer according to the following process:
The Administrator determines the total amounts needed from self-insuring employers
as a class for administrative costs and each specialized fund.
The Administrator divides the amounts needed from self-insuring employers as a class
by the total amount of paid compensation reported by all self-insuring employers in the
previous year;
The Administrator multiplies the quotient from the calculation above by the amount of
paid compensation for the previous calendar year attributable to the individual self-
insuring employer for whom the assessment is being determined.
A self-insuring employer must pay the assessments derived from the above process,
unless the assessment falls below a minimum amount determined by the Administrator. If the
self-insuring employer’s assessment falls below the minimum amount, the employer must pay
the minimum amount.6
HISTORY
Action Date
Introduced 02-03-21
H0017-I-134/ts
4 Fulton, Philip J., Ohio’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 14.4, 14.6, and 14.7 (5th Ed. 2018).
5R.C. 4123.34, 4123.35, 4123.39, and 4123.41, not in the bill, and O.A.C. 4123-17-01 to 4123-17-04,
4123-17-06, and 4123-17-35.
6 R.C. 4123.35, not in the bill.
P a g e |3 H.B. 330
As Introduced
Statutes affected: As Introduced: 4123.68