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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Heaton

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/28/06

2-11-06 HB 40/aHLHRC/aHFl#1

SHORT TITLE Health Volunteers Responding to Emergencies

SB

ANALYST Collard

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$0.1 Minimal Impact Non-Recurring Workers’ Compensa-

tion Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Workers’ Compensation Administration (WCA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HFl #1 Amendment

The first House Floor Amendment to House Bill 40, as amended by the House Labor and Human

Resources Committee, strikes the word volunteer from the body of the bill.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

WCA notes this amendment effectively avoids classifying these workers as volunteers whom,

according to case law, have always been exempt from coverage under the Workers’ Compensa-

tion Act.

Synopsis of HLHRC Amendment

The House Labor and Human Resources Committee amendment to House Bill 40 includes

emergency disaster health professional volunteers under the definition of public employee for

purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act. Such volunteers would be employees of DOH and

the average weekly wage would be that of similarly situated workers.

House Bill 40/aHLHRC/aHFl#1 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

WCA notes a statutory change is not necessary to achieve the intended coverage for emergency

health professional workers. Even with the changes proposed in the amendment, the same result

could be achieved administratively.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

WCA suggests

the word volunteer be stricken entirely from the amendments to avoid any implication

of changing the definition of worker under the Workers’ Compensation Act to include volunteers. On

page 1, lines 11 and 12, on page 2, lines 2 and 3, and on page 3, line 21 insert “an unpaid health pro-

fessional” should be substituted instead of “volunteer.”

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 40 proposes that health professional volunteers deployed by DOH in response to a

declared emergency or public health emergency, or in response to a request from another state

under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), be considered public employ-

ees during the deployment for purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act. Benefits afforded

under the Workers’ Compensation Act for injury or death of a volunteer health professional dur-

ing the deployment would be available to the volunteer health professional. The average weekly

wage of a person in like employment would be used to calculate workers’ compensation benefits.

The health professional volunteer would not be considered an employee of DOH for purposes of

calculating any fee under 52-5-19 NMSA 1978.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There is no appropriation associated with this bill; however, any claims would be paid out of the

Workers’ Compensation fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DOH supports House Bill 40. DOH indicates it and other health care institutions, such as hospi-

tals, experience work force shortages on a daily basis. These circumstances are exacerbated dur-

ing public health emergencies. In order to ensure access to emergency health care and public

health services during natural or human-caused disasters, DOH and its health system partners

must rely on the willingness of volunteers to perform vital public health and health services, in-

cluding support services, to affected populations. DOH has created a volunteer health profes-

sional registry to assist the Department in identifying volunteer health professionals – physicians,

nurses, emergency medical technicians, emergency department technicians, and other allied pro-

fessionals – willing to be deployed as needed to health emergencies in New Mexico and other

states affected by large-scale disasters. These volunteers make a heroic commitment to volunteer

under austere and sometimes dangerous conditions, risking their lives and health to serve in a

time of need. Injury and death benefits otherwise available to health professionals through their

employers may not be available to those health professionals when they are deployed to provide

health services in a declared emergency, leaving those volunteers potentially unprotected for in-

juries they may suffer while deployed. New Mexico law does not currently provide an effective

mechanism for making sure injury and death benefits would be available to deployed volunteer

health professionals, making it less likely that volunteers would respond to requests for assis-

House Bill 40/aHLHRC/aHFl#1 – Page

3

tance from DOH during declared public emergencies and public health emergencies.

WCA indicates a statutory change is not necessary to achieve the intended coverage for emer-

gency health professional workers. The same result could be achieved administratively.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

WCA indicates this amendment overrules case law holding that volunteers are not considered

workers under the Workers’ Compensation Act. See, Joyce v. Pecos Benedictine Monastery,

119 N.M. 764, 895 P.2d 286 (1995).

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

DOH notes it has developed a volunteer health professional registry to assist the Department in

rapid deployment of public health and medical assistance for in-state and out-of-state declared

emergencies. Because the registry is already in place, this bill would not result in any significant

additional administrative work for DOH staff.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Health professional volunteers deployed by DOH to respond to a declared emergency or public

health emergency in New Mexico, or to respond to a request from another state for assistance

under the EMAC in the event of a large-scale disaster, may not be eligible for payment of injury

or death benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act during their deployment, leaving open

the possibility that those volunteers would be unprotected and uncompensated for injuries suf-

fered during the deployment.

KBC/sb:mt