S.F. No. 1159 Summary

• Transfers authority for workers' compensation hearings and decisions from the commissioner to compensation judges employed by the Office of Administrative Hearings, with limited exceptions for disputes under $7,500.

• Increases the monetary limit for home remodeling and alteration projects for injured workers from $60,000 to $75,000 per injury and allows projects to proceed without architect certification if approved by the Council on Disability and completed by licensed contractors with certified building official approval.

• Establishes that compensation judges must conduct de novo hearings before a different judge than the one who presided over the administrative conference, and implements stricter timelines for settlement conferences (180 days for claim petitions, 45 days for discontinuance matters) and hearings (90 days from settlement conference).

• Changes the block system assignment of workers' compensation cases from mandatory to preferred, allowing removal of judges when legal rights are exercised, judges are incapacitated, or other assignment is required by statute or judicial conduct rules.

• Appropriates $600,000 for implementing a case management and electronic filing system at the Office of Administrative Hearings and authorizes the commissioner to replace "average wholesale price" with "wholesale acquisition cost" standard for medical fee reviews.