Bill
HB 7046
Summary — HB 7046: "An Act Making Revisions to the Second Injury Fund" (Public Act 25‑135)Status and procedural history- Bill number: HB 7046 - Title: AN ACT MAKING REVISIONS TO T
Status and procedural history
- Bill number: HB 7046
- Title: AN ACT MAKING REVISIONS TO THE SECOND INJURY FUND
- Introduced: February 20, 2025
- Committee: Referred to the Joint Committee on Labor and Public Employees; public hearing held 02/27/2025
- Reports: Joint favorable report (03/06/2025); LCO filings and committee reports during March 2025
- Legislative passage: House passed 06/03/2025; Senate passed 06/04/2025 (on consent/in concurrence)
- Enrollment/transmittal: Transmitted to Secretary of the State and to the Governor 06/25/2025
- Public Act: Listed as Public Act 25‑135 (06/16/2025)
- Signed by Governor: 07/08/2025
Purpose and intent
- The bill’s stated purpose (by its title) is to make statutory revisions to the Second Injury Fund (SIF). The Second Injury Fund typically exists to encourage the employment of workers with preexisting impairments by limiting employer liability where a subsequent workplace injury combines with a prior impairment to produce an increased disability.
- By amending SIF law, the act is intended to adjust procedures, responsibilities, funding mechanisms, or claim-handling rules related to the Fund and the State Treasurer’s role in its administration (as suggested by the subject headings).
What the bill affects (general overview)
- Second Injury Fund: statutory provisions governing eligibility, claim procedures, payments from the Fund, and interaction with workers’ compensation and tort claims.
- State Treasurer: any administrative, investment, reporting, or disbursement duties the Treasurer has in relation to the SIF.
- Employers and insurers: potential changes to assessments, reporting obligations, or exposure when SIF offsets apply.
- Injured workers/claimants: changes to how claims are processed, time limits, recoveries, or coordination between workers’ compensation benefits and SIF payments.
- Municipalities and self-insured entities: any revisions may alter fiscal obligations or claims handling.
Key provisions (high-level; bill text not provided)
- The document supplied does not include the bill’s text. Because of that, specific statutory changes (for example, new eligibility criteria, changes in contribution rates or assessment formulas, revised procedural deadlines, or explicit changes to the Treasurer’s powers) cannot be stated here with certainty.
- Typical categories of change in such bills include: clarifying definitions; adjusting the formula for employer assessments; changing claim filing or adjudication timelines; altering reimbursement procedures; modifying oversight, investment, or reporting duties assigned to the Treasurer; or addressing tort-related interactions.
Potential impacts
- Fiscal: could affect SIF solvency, employer assessment levels, and state/local budgeting depending on how funding or liability is adjusted. The Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) would quantify these impacts.
- Administrative: may change workloads for the Treasurer’s office, the workers’ compensation commission, insurers, and employers.
- Claimants: might change eligibility, benefit levels, or process speed for obtaining SIF payments.
Next steps / recommended documents to review
- Full enrolled bill / Public Act 25‑135 text for exact statutory language and effective dates.
- Office of Legislative Research (OLR) report and Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) fiscal note for legal analysis and estimated budgetary effects (the bill was referred to these offices 03/17/2025).
- Any implementing guidance or administrative notices issued by the State Treasurer or the workers’ compensation authority after enactment.
If you’d like, I can locate and summarize the specific sections of Public Act 25‑135 (HB 7046) once you provide the bill text or authorize me to retrieve the enacted statute text and OLR/OFA reports.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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