National – The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) released a new report and opened registration for their upcoming seminar.
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NCCI opened registration for their Annual Insights Symposium that will take place May 11-13 at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes. Secure a spot and view the agenda here.
- February 2026 NCCI Labor Market Insights report was released this week. These reports aim to provide a monthly overview of key labor market statistics and potential impact on workers’ compensation. This report showed a strong start to the year, with the economy adding 130,000 total jobs and 172,000 private‑sector jobs. Job growth was led by health care, followed by gains in professional services and construction, all key sectors for workers’ compensation.
Arizona –
- HB 2813 was withdrawn out of Health & Human Services Committee. As a reminder, HB 2813 would allow employers or insurers to use these networks to provide medications to injured workers and sets standards for reimbursement and required employee notifications. It also excludes informal networks from regulation and outlines key responsibilities for formal networks, including commission registration, open participation for licensed pharmacies, and prohibiting certain fees.
- HB 2231 passed out of Public Safety & Law Enforcement Committee. As a reminder, HB 2231 along with its companion bill SB 1215 are designed to ensure that firefighters receive full workers’ compensation protections by correcting a punctuation error that insurers have exploited to deny cancer claims. These bills clarify that adenocarcinoma is a standalone cancer presumed to be work-related under Arizona’s presumptive cancer law, closing a loophole that allowed insurers to argue coverage applied only to adenocarcinoma of the respiratory tract. By explicitly correcting the statute, the measures ensure that firefighters diagnosed with cancer can access the benefits intended for them without unnecessary obstacles.
Hawaii – SB 2751 passed its first and second readings in the Senate with amendments and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee (JDC) for further consideration. The bill establishes standards for the regulation and reimbursement of prescription drugs for injured workers within Hawaii’s workers’ compensation system. It limits physicians to dispensing prescription medications only during the first 30 days following an industrial injury, after which prescriptions must be filled through the employer’s pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) network.
New York – Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) released Benefit Delivery Expenses in the New York Workers’ Compensation System. The report examines recent trends in benefit delivery expenses and their key components, including medical cost containment and litigation expenses in the New York workers’ compensation system.
Utah – HB 281 was not considered by the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee. While this does not necessarily mean the bill is dead, in many states, if a bill is not heard or acted upon by its assigned committee, it does not advance further and effectively fails that legislative session. As a reminder, HB 281 addresses the treatment of employee cannabis use under the state’s workers’ compensation law. The measure amends the workers’ compensation statute to establish a rebuttable presumption that cannabis use contributed to a workplace injury if an injured employee tests positive for THC or a THC analog, potentially resulting in a reduction of benefits unless the presumption is overcome.
Virginia – Virginia House of Delegates unanimously passed HB 1313, a bill that provides workers’ compensation coverage for the exacerbation of preexisting mental health conditions, even without an accompanying physical injury, for law enforcement officers and firefighters. Specifically, the bill clarifies that coverage for mental health claims includes the worsening of a preexisting disorder.
Washington – SB 5847 passed the Senate this week and will be sent over to the House. SB 5847 outlines changes to Washington State’s workers’ compensation system related to medical provider networks, treatment guidelines, and oversight processes. The bill includes provisions regarding the worker's choice of medical provider and establishes standards for monitoring and administering medical care for injured workers.
West Virginia – HB 5428 was introduced late last week in the West Virginia legislature. The bill would require employers to provide paid traumatic event counseling to police officers, firefighters, and 911 dispatchers that were exposed to certain critical incidents in the line of duty. Specifically, the bill would establish a program offering up to 12 vests of licensee counseling per qualifying event, Counseling would be employer paid and could be in person or by telehealth.
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