National – The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its 2023 injury and illness data. The data gathered was submitted by more than 375,000 establishments. Further details can be found here.
Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released the 24th edition of CompScope Benchmarks. These reports analyze 17 state workers' compensation systems, and how each system changed over time.
Hawaii – HB 1889 was sent to the Governor late last week. As a reminder, the bill would expand workers’ compensation medical benefits to female firefighters. Specially, the bill would add coverage for breast cancer and other cancers of the female reproductive organs to the list of cancers presumed to be compensable for firefighters.
Louisiana – Two Louisiana bills were discussed in Committee Hearings this week:
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- HB 579 was discussed in the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare on April 24th. As a reminder, the bill would allow pharmacists to dispense HIV pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis.
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- HB 764 was discussed in the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations on April 25th. The bill prohibits compensability and causation in medical treatment disputes. Specifically, the bill would not allow employers or carriers to raise issues with lack of compensability or causation as a means of defense when appealing a medical director's decision or for the first time a dispute is before the medical director.
Mississippi – Mississippi Governor Tate Reeve signed HB 1697 into law. HB 1697 requires local governments to provide 60 days of pay to the beneficiaries of certain first responders who die in the line of duty. These first responders include law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians.
New York – New York Inspector General Lucy Lang released the 2023 Annual Report of the Workers’ Compensation Fraud Inspector General (WCFIG). The report details how the office plans to improve efficiency and the efforts the office will take to combat fraud. The report can be found here.
South Carolina – This week, S 1266 unanimously passed the Senate. S 1266 would authorize electronic payments for some workers’ compensation benefits. Specifically, the bill would require the employer or payer to inform the claimant of the electronic payment option and provide instructions on how to request electronic payments in the future. 
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