Researcher: LRH Page 1 4/6/21
OLR Bill Analysis
SB 907
AN ACT CONCERNING MINOR AND TECHNICAL CHANGES TO
THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT.
SUMMARY
This bill makes various minor and technical changes to the workers’
compensation statutes. It:
1. retitles the workers’ compensation commissioners as
“administrative law judges” in current statutes and in any
public acts from the 2021 legislative session (§ 1);
2. reduces the frequency with which the workers’ compensation
commission’s advisory board must meet from twice to once
each quarter (among other things, the board helps evaluate the
performance of compensation commissioners and advises on
the physicians available to examine injured workers (CGS § 31-
280)) (§ 2);
3. eliminates a requirement for the commission’s statistical
division to be administered by a full-time, salaried director
appointed by the Workers’ Compensation Commission’s
chairperson (§ 3);
4. eliminates a requirement that the audio recordings of formal
hearings provided to parties be on cassette (§ 4);
5. eliminates obsolete provisions regarding (a) the transfer of
certain cases to the Second Injury Fund (which has not been
allowed since 1995) (§§ 5-7); (b) a medical panel of occupational
lung disease physicians (which has not met since the 1980s) (§
8); and (c) the destruction of old workers’ compensation
agreements filed in Superior Court (which has been obsolete
since the creation of the Compensation Review Division in 1980 2021SB-00907-R000286-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 2 4/6/21
and the subsequent Compensation Review Board) (§ 8);
6. eliminates a provision that currently places the Workers’
Compensation Commission within the Department of Labor for
administrative purposes only (§ 8); and
7. makes technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 13 Nay 0 (03/18/2021)