SB 24-149

Senate Bill 24-149, which has been signed into law and is now effective, aims to protect state employees who file workers' compensation claims. It prohibits the state from suggesting that an employee resign or limit their future employment opportunities within the state due to a claim. Additionally, it requires the Department of Personnel to periodically seek interest from insurance companies for workers' compensation coverage and report findings to the General Assembly, starting in 2026. This ensures transparency and helps evaluate whether self-insuring claims is more cost-effective than purchasing insurance from private companies.

Official Summary

The act prohibits the state, when communicating with or reaching an agreement with a state employee about a workers' compensation claim, from suggesting or requiring that: The state employee resign from state employment or refrain from seeking or obtaining employment with the state in the future; or Any other restrictions be placed on the state employee's ability to work for the state. The act voids any provision of a contract that restricts a state employee's ability to work for the state in violation of these prohibitions. If the state elects to self-insure workers' compensation claims, the act requires the department of personnel to send a request for interest to Pinnacol Assurance and at least 5 other insurance companies that provide workers' compensation insurance in Colorado. The requests for interest must be sent in 2026 and at least once every 3 years thereafter. Each request for interest must request the following information from each responding insurance company for the following calendar year: An estimate of the total cost to the state to purchase workers' compensation insurance; The company's ability to provide workers' compensation insurance that would cover all state employees; and A detailed description of the workers' compensation coverage that the company would provide. For each request for interest obtained, the department of personnel shall prepare and submit a report to the general assembly specifying: The name of the responding insurance company, unless the department received only one response, in which case the name of the sole responding insurance company is redacted from the report; The total cost estimated by the responding insurance company to provide workers' compensation insurance coverage to the state; Whether purchasing workers' compensation insurance from the responding insurance company would require the state to contract with a third-party administrator, and what the additional cost to the state would be, if any; A detailed description of the workers' compensation coverage that the responding insurance company would provide; The costs associated with the self-insurance selected by the state for the current calendar year; and Whether the state's costs related to self-insurance of workers' compensation claims increased or decreased compared to the previous calendar year. The act requires that the first report to the general assembly must specify, over the previous 3 years, to which insurance companies the state sent requests for interest, the total number of insurance companies that responded to the requests, and the estimated cost reported in each received response, if any. APPROVED by Governor June 7, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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