What's New...

2009 Legislative Session Now Complete

The 2009 Spring Session of the Mississippi Legislature has finally come to a close. Unfinished business however remains, as the Governor and Legislature still must come to an agreement on the budget for the next fiscal year. Please watch this site for further details.

To view MASI's 2009 Legislative Agenda, click here

To view MASI's 2009 Legislative Update # 15, click here

 

2008 Session Was a Busy One

As the Watchdog for self-insurers throughout the State of Mississippi, MASI stays busy following the events at the state capitol. Fortunately, every bill that was on last year's "Bills of Concern List" was defeated! In addition, for the first time in recent memory, three of the four bills on our agenda were passed by the Senate Insurance Committee, and two of these made it to the House of Representatives! The following is a description of these bills...

SB 3045 - Admissibility of Post-Accident Drug Testing, Employer-Ordered or Otherwise. This bill passed the Senate Insurance Committee and passed the Senate unanimously but died in the House Insurance Committee. We will urge passage of this bill again next year.

SB 2984 - Denial of Certain Workers' Comp Benefits to Illegal Aliens. This bill passed the Senate Insurance Committee and passed the Senate but was amended to include a requirement that employers use an automated system called E-Verify. Due to concern over this amendment raised by some of our members, MASI withdrew its support from this bill. The bill died in the House Judiciary B Committee.

SB 2954 - Fair & Impartial Interpretation of Workers' Comp Law. This bill passed the Senate Insurance Committee but was defeated on the Senate floor. It will be re-introduced next year.

SB 2953 - Employer's Right to Request an Autopsy. This bill died in Committee. It will be re-introduced next year.

Legislative Updates

To keep our members informed, MASI has been e-mailing regular Legislative Updates to our members. All total, thirteen of these updates were sent in 2008. To view some sample Legislative Updates that include information about MASI's Legislative Agenda and the Bills of Concern List, follow these links:  2008 Legislative Update #1, 2008 Legislative Update #12, 2008 Legislative Update #13.

Legislative Town Meetings

As an advocate for self-insured corporations and groups all across Mississippi, the Mississippi Association of Self-Insurers (MASI) held a series of Legislative Town Meetings to allow individuals in the Workers’ Compensation Industry to discuss current issues that are important to them. Mr. Preston Williams, Director of Self-Insurance for the MWCC, was present at each meeting, and some very good discussions took place. These discussions helped formulate MASI's 2009 Legislative Agenda. The schedule of these meetings was as follows:

Tuesday, 11-18-08           Imperial Palace, Biloxi   11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m

Thursday, 11-20-08          Steamroom Grille, Jackson   11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

  

Tedford vs. Franklin Corporation/ MASI Mounts Campaign to Protect Exclusive Remedy

This very important case came before the Miss. Supreme Court in late 2008. MASI is now awaiting the decision.

In May of 2007, eight employees of Franklin Corporation obtained a verdict against their employer in amounts ranging from $75,000 to $800,000, and more significantly, the jury returned a verdict of $7.5 million against Franklin Corporation for punitive damages. On post-trial motion, the court reduced the punitive damages verdict to $1.8 million, but another judge later increased the verdict to $5 million. Obviously, the verdict for punitive damages undermines the principle of Exclusive Remedy, and MASI has urged others to join in filing Amicus Briefs in support of Franklin's appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. In March, 2008, "Workcompcentral.com" reported that a "flurry" of briefs have been filed with the court. It should be noted that MASI's was one of the first briefs filed, and most of the others were were filed as a result of e-mail alerts which MASI circulated to its membership and other interested parties.

                                    

What Does MASI Do?

The Mississippi Association of Self-Insurers was established to represent the interests of the self-insurance industry through legislative and regulatory actions. The Association membership is composed of group self-insurer funds and individual self-insured employers.

The Association is strongly supported by many professional members who serve self-insurers such as rehabilitation counselors, third party administrators, law firms, and specialists in various other services. The Association is directed by a Board of Directors with a representative from each Group Association and representatives selected from individual self-insured companies.

Legislative, Regulatory, Public Relations and Individual Self-Insured Committees have been established to recommend present and future policies for the association.

As The Voice of One, MASI has effectively represented the interests of its members, and continues to grow as an effective voice for responsible and fair treatment of self-insurers and the employees under their care. Here are just a few of our successes...

• At the request of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission, MASI helped get the statute changed to allow the Commission to use current mortality tables when calculating permanent disability and death benefits. During this process, MASI helped prevent an effort in the Mississippi Legislature to extend indemnity benefits from the current level of 450 weeks to 520 weeks.

• MASI worked with the Commission and Legislature to ammend state law so that notice of cancellation of coverage could be sent by certified mail.

• MASI took the lead in getting workers' compensation coverage exempted from any future windstorm surcharges that may be assessed as part of House Bill 1500, passed in the Mississippi Legislature's 2007 Spring Session.

• MASI successfully opposed the creation and expansion of a Cost Containment Division within the Workers' Compensation Commission in 2006, which if established would have cost employers millions of dollars.

• MASI helped to get legislation passed in 2005 that replaced the Self-Insured Guaranty Fund with two guaranty funds, one for individual self-insured companies and one for self-insured groups.

• MASI continually acts as a vocal advocate for self-insurers all across Mississippi during times of regulatory or legislative change, and seeks to keep its members informed. Whether the issue is examining proposed changes to the Medical Fee Schedule or fighting proposed legislation that could be harmful to our members, MASI is at the forefront.