A. There is created in the workers' compensation administration an advisory council on workers' compensation and occupational disease disablement. Members of the council shall be appointed by the governor. There shall be six voting members of the council with three members representing employers and three members representing workers. No member representing employers or workers shall be an attorney. Three of the original appointees shall serve for terms of two years, and three shall serve for four years. The members shall determine by lot which members shall serve for four years and which shall serve for two. Thereafter, each member shall be appointed for a term of four years. The council shall elect a chairman from its membership. The director shall be an ex-officio, nonvoting member of the council.

B. Members of the council shall not be paid but shall receive per diem and mileage pursuant to the Per Diem and Mileage Act [10-8-1 to 10-8-8 NMSA 1978].

C. The council shall meet at least twice each year. It shall annually review workers' compensation and occupational disease disablement in New Mexico and shall issue a report of its findings and conclusions on or before January 1 of each year. The annual report shall be sent to the governor, the superintendent of insurance, the speaker of the house of representatives, the president pro tempore of the senate, the minority leaders of both houses and the chairmen of all appropriate committees of each house that review the status of the workers' compensation and occupational disease disablement system. In performing these responsibilities, the council's role shall be strictly advisory, but it may:

(1) make recommendations relating to the adoption of rules and legislation;

(2) make recommendations regarding the method and form of statistical data collections; and

(3) monitor the performance of the workers' compensation and occupational disease disablement system in the implementation of legislative directives.

D. The advisory council on workers' compensation and occupational disease disablement shall appoint a committee composed of three members representing workers and three members representing employers to designate an approved list of health care providers who are authorized to conduct independent medical examinations. The committee shall, to the greatest extent possible, designate only health care providers whose judgments are respected, or not objected to, by recognized representatives of both employer and worker interests and whose judgments are not perceived to favor any particular interest group. Members of the committee shall be immune from personal liability for any official action taken in establishing the approved list of health care providers. The committee shall review and revise the list annually. The terms of the original members shall be two years, and thereafter the terms of the members shall be staggered so that each year the committee appoints one member who represents workers and one member who represents employers. The members shall annually elect a chairman. No member representing employers or workers shall be an attorney.

E. The workers' compensation administration shall cooperate with the council and shall provide information and staff support as reasonably necessary and required by the council and by the committee appointed pursuant to Subsection D of this section.

History: Laws 1990 (2nd S.S.), ch. 2, § 28; 1993, ch. 193, § 1.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, in Subsection A, deleted the former next-to-last sentence, which read "The governor shall also appoint three nonvoting members of the council: one from an insurance company, one health care provider and one attorney", and made a minor stylistic change; made a minor stylistic change in Subsection C; inserted the second and third sentences in Subsection D; and made minor stylistic changes in Subsection E.

Law reviews. — For survey of 1990-91 workers' compensation law, see 22 N.M.L. Rev. 845 (1992).