Workers' compensation appeals.

13LSO-0177.L1

FISCAL NOTE

	FY 2014	FY 2015	FY 2016
NON-ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACT
Anticipated Expenditure (Decrease):
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT FUND	(120,000)	(120,000)	(120,000)

Source of Expenditure Decrease:

Potential reduction in contested cases and legal fees for appeals to the Wyoming Supreme Court.  These fees are non-administrative funds expended from the INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT FUND (Workers' Compensation fund) and are not appropriated in the agency 053 biennium budget.

Assumptions:

Each year, approximately 30 cases are appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.  The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services (DWS) assumes it will experience approximately a 50 percent (15 cases per year) decrease in the number of cases appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court under the proposed legislation.

The INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT FUND pays approximately $8,000 for each case which is appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court.  The charges for each case includes charges from the Wyoming Attorney General's Office as well as expenses from the claimant's attorney since Wyoming statutes require the DWS to pay both the state's and claimant's legal expenses.

The fiscal impact to the judicial system is indeterminable due to an unknown number of cases.

Prepared by:    Michael Swank, LSO                   Phone:     777-7881

(Information provided by John Ysebaert, Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, 777-7672; Laura Gorny, Wyoming Attorney General's Office, 777-7840; Lynne Kranz, Wyoming Office of Administrative Hearings, 777-6834; Kristi Racines, Wyoming Supreme Court, 777-7502)