23-961.01. Self-insurance pools

A. Two or more employers, each of whom are engaged in similar industries, may enter into contracts to establish a workers' compensation pool to provide for the payment and administration of workers' compensation claims pursuant to this chapter. The members of each workers' compensation pool shall elect a board of trustees to manage the workers' compensation pool established pursuant to this section. Each member employer shall have been in business for at least five consecutive years before entering into a contract to establish a workers' compensation pool. The total amount of gross workers' compensation insurance premiums paid by the members of the pool in the year preceding the execution of the contract must equal at least seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. The group of employers that makes up a workers' compensation pool shall have been formed for a specific purpose, other than to engage in self-insurance, before the formation of a workers' compensation pool. Employers may establish workers' compensation pools pursuant to this section by one of the following means:

1. On a cooperative or contract basis.

2. Through the joint formation of a nonprofit corporation.

3. By the execution of a trust agreement to carry out the provisions of this chapter directly by the employers or by contracting with a third party.

B. A workers' compensation pool established pursuant to this section is subject to approval as a self-insurer by the industrial commission pursuant to section 23-961, subsection A, paragraph 2. The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

C. Workers' compensation pools established pursuant to this section are exempt from taxation under title 43.

D. Each agreement or contract shall provide that the members of a workers' compensation pool are jointly and severally liable for the liabilities of the pool. If a member of a pool discontinues its membership in the pool, that party shall be liable only for liabilities accruing prior to the discontinuation of its membership in the pool.

E. As to self-insurance pools established under this section, no pool, employer within a pool, or agent of any pool or employer within a pool may require an employee to be treated by or directed to any specific medical provider subsequent to the employee's initial visit to treat an industrial injury or illness, except as may be required as part of an independent medical examination for an employee making a workers' compensation claim.

F. The industrial commission shall adopt rules necessary for safeguarding the solvency of pools and guaranteeing that injured workers receive benefits as required under this chapter. These rules shall include, at a minimum, matters pertaining to classification and rating, loss reserves, investments, financial security including minimum and combined premiums, combined net worth and other indicia necessary for protection from insolvency, specific and aggregate excess insurance, group homogeneity and assessments necessary for participation in and administration of the workers' compensation system.