Chairman Tracy Whigam was unable to attend today' s meeting. Mr. Whigam requested Alan Gardner to act as Chair of the Advisory Committee Meeting in his absence.

*Rian Van Leuven, Susan Dokken, Willis Norton, and John Tippets were present via telephone conference.

Commissioner Limbaugh reported that no changes were made in budget appropriations, despite the Advisory Committee's letter to the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) requesting alternative funding for the Division of Building Safety.

It was suggested that the Commission might need to propose an increase in the premium tax to maintain funding for the Division of Building Safety's safety inspection programs.

Discussion was held on transferring the funding of the Logging Safety programs to the Public Lands Department under the Division of Building Safety. Further discussion will be held at the next regular meeting.

Legislation revising §9-340(B) regarding the need for redacting of Commission decisions, drafted by subcommittee members John Greenfield, Keith Hutchinson, Alan Gardner, and John Barrett, was discussed at length at the January Advisory Meeting and was again reviewed in its final form. Senator Andreason and Mr. Greenfield asked for the Advisory Committee's consensus to approve the proposed changes to §9-340(B). The Advisory Committee unanimously approved the proposed legislation by consensus. Advisory Committee members were encouraged to testify before the Committee hearing the proposed legislation.

House Bill 545 - Representative Eulalie Langford's legislation has been discussed by the Commerce and Human Resources Committee. This bill, as discussed at the January Advisory Meeting, deals with gross negligence of an employer and eliminates the exclusive remedy within the workers' compensation law. Mr. Gardner indicated that the bill had been put on a two-week hold until a survey of other states was completed. Mr. Gardner asked for help with the survey and Keith Hutchinson volunteered. Mr. Millard encouraged all the members of the Advisory Committee to appear and give testimony against this bill. John Greenfield will write a letter to the Commerce and Human Resources Committee to let them know that the consensus of the Advisory Committee is not to support this legislation.

House Bills 673 and 674 - Kent Day, an attorney for Liberty NorthWest Insurance representing IACI, reviewed the content of House Bills 673 and 674. Mr. Day indicated that Theresa Molitor asked him to represent IACI in her absence, but that Mr. Day was not involved in drafting this legislation. Discussion was held on the substantive changes of both bills. Members of the Advisory Committee were concerned that they were not given the opportunity to review these bills ahead of time and were not given the opportunity for input. As a courtesy to the Advisory Committee members since they do represent all fields of the workers' compensation arena, they expressed a hope that IACI and others would present proposed legislation to the Committee prior to being submitted to a legislative committee. Some of the Advisory Committee members indicated that HB 674 contained more than housekeeping changes as stated in the Statement of Purpose, but are substantive changes that eliminates some of the Commission's authority. Extensive discussion was held on both of these bills.

The consensus of the Advisory Committee was to recommend to IACI that House Bill 673 and 674 should be withdrawn from consideration this year and allow the full Advisory Committee the opportunity to review and discuss the legislation openly with IACI.

Public Comment: Woody Richards of Moffatt, Thomas, and Kent Day volunteered to recommend to IACI that these bills be withdrawn from this legislative session.

Dave Gribskov suggested that the Advisory Committee charter be reviewed regarding legislative issues. Alan Gardner indicated that if the Committee pursues review of proposed legislation, that timelines should be set for the review process.

Public Comment: Woody Richards addressed the Advisory Committee on an amendment to House Bill 512 dealing with insurance company premium tax offsets for Guaranty Fund assessments. In coordination with the sponsor of HB 512, Mr. Richards helped draft an amendment which is intended to limit any right of offset against the Industrial Commission premium tax to essentially Associated Loggers Exchange which is the only known member of the Guaranty Fund that pays a premium tax only to the Industrial Commission. The amendment is intended to protect the Industrial Commission's premium taxes from offsets by other insurance companies.

1. Review the Charter regarding Legislation.

2. Educate Legislators on Commission Business and Importance of the Advisory Committee.

The next regular meeting of the Advisory Committee was scheduled for May 11, 2004 at 9:30 a.m.