EMERGENCY RULES
LABOR AND INDUSTRIES
Date of Adoption: July 25, 2000.
Purpose: Declare a dividend that is to be distributed to all businesses that paid into the industrial insurance accident fund between July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 51.04.020, 51.16.035, 51.16.160.
Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest.
Reasons for this Finding: Declare a dividend that is to be distributed to all businesses that paid into the industrial Insurance accident fund between July 1, 1998, though June 30, 1999, (fiscal year 1999). The department is required to declare the dividend and formula to be used to calculate the dividend. It is essential to issue the dividend refunds quickly as the interest bearing market funds to produce the surplus dividend has a potential to be volatile. This rule is not to be promulgated on a permanent basis.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0. Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.
July 25, 2000
Gary Moore
Director
As provided in WAC 296-17-905 and 296-17-907, the director declares a dividend for employers insured by the industrial insurance accident fund for the fiscal year period beginning July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, in the amount of approximately two hundred million dollars.
The department will freeze and evaluate the accident fund premium data on July 28, 2000, to determine the exact amount of the dividend. Dividend payments shall be made to employers with reasonable efforts within sixty days of July 28, 2000, but not to exceed one hundred twenty days from the filing of this rule. The department shall distribute dividends to all employers that paid premiums into the accident fund for the fiscal year period beginning July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999. Employers entitled to a dividend distribution who are not in default as of July 28, 2000, for failure to pay assessments owed to the department, including any over due premiums, interest and/or penalties owed to the department shall receive a dividend payment; other eligible employers will receive credit to their industrial insurance account.
The dividend has been determined by the actuaries of the department and an employer's share is to be calculated using the following formula:
collected and assessed net of up-front discounts x 30.8%
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Reviser's note: The unnecessary underscoring in the above section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appears in the Register pursuant to the requirements of RCW 34.08.040.