By: Eltife S.B. No. 653
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the amount of burial benefits required to be
paid by an insurance carrier under the workers' compensation
system.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 408.186(a), Labor Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) If the death of an employee results from a compensable
injury, the insurance carrier shall pay to the person who incurred
liability for the costs of burial the lesser of:
(1) the actual costs incurred for reasonable burial
expenses; or
(2) $10,000 [$6,000].
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
claim for workers' compensation burial benefits based on a
compensable injury that occurs on or after the effective date of
this Act. A claim based on a compensable injury that occurs before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on
the date the compensable injury occurred, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.