30-6-102. Account created; expenditures; report.

(a) There is created the miner's hospital board account. Not later than July 1, 2001, the state treasurer shall credit to the account six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000.00) from interest accrued within the miner's hospital account within the permanent land income fund created by W.S. 9-4-310(c)(v). The amount available for appropriation annually to the miner's hospital board account shall not exceed an amount equal to five percent (5%) of the balance of both the miner's hospital account within the permanent land fund created by W.S. 9-4-310(a)(ix) and the miner's hospital income account within the permanent land income fund created by W.S. 9-4-310(c)(v). No appropriation shall be made from either the miner's hospital account within the permanent land fund created by W.S. 9-4-310(a)(ix) or the miner's hospital income account within the permanent land fund created by W.S. 9-4-310(c)(v) to another account other than the miner's hospital board account created by this subsection. The money in the account shall be used to provide for the expenses of the board and its staff, as well as to implement the recommendations of the board.

(b) The board shall:

(i) Serve disabled or incapacitated miners in this state with emphasis on pulmonary/respiratory, hearing loss, cardiac and musculoskeletal conditions of miners due to labor in the mining industry;

(ii) Develop a plan to meet the miner's health care needs in this state. In recommending plans for meeting the miner's health care needs in this state, the board shall base its initial recommendations upon the report entitled "The Health Care Needs Assessment of Wyoming Miners," dated November 13, 2000 prepared by BBC Research and Consulting specifically dealing with both the medical and geographic findings, as well as phase II of the plan identifying alternative programs to address the needs identified in the plan. The plan shall be based upon the anticipated revenue to the account created by subsection (a) of this section;

(iii) Promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of this act including eligibility for services for miners, establish administrative procedures for auditing and accountability;

(iv) Have authority to contract with service providers for the purposes of this act.

(c) Each biennium the board shall recommend expenditures of any monies in the account created by subsection (a) of this section for purposes of addressing miner's health issues based upon the plan prepared by the board under subsection (b) of this section. The recommendations shall be reviewed by the joint appropriations interim committee and any recommendations from the committee shall be included in the budget for appropriation. Any recommendations shall require legislative appropriation to become effective.

(d) Not later than December 1 of each year, the board shall report to the governor and the joint appropriations interim committee on the activities of the board including any recommendations made for expenditure of monies from the account created by subsection (a) of this section to address miner's health issues in this state.

(e) Payment made by the board from the account shall be payment of last resort and the board shall reduce any benefit which would be provided under this section by all other public and private sources which are available to the miner for the disability or condition.

(f) As used in this section and W.S. 30-6-104:

(i) "Mine" means an area of land from which minerals, coal or other geological materials are extracted and processed in nonliquid form or, if in liquid form, through an in situ leach process;

(ii) "Miner" means a current resident of Wyoming who has worked in a mine in this state or a contiguous state who is or was employed at a mine or at a processing or conversion facility contiguous to the mine and dependent upon the output of that mine as feedstock. "Miner" shall include persons providing labor or services at the mine or qualifying processing or conversion facility on a continuing and regular basis whether employed by the mine owner or operator or hired on a contract basis. "Miner" shall not include persons providing labor or services at the mine or qualifying processing or conversion facility on an occasional or incidental basis as defined by board rule;

(iii) "Mining" means coal mining, metal ore mining and nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying. "Mining" includes coal, trona, bentonite, gypsum, sand and gravel and other stone and uranium mining;

(iv) "Domicile" means that place where a person has his true, fixed and permanent home to which whenever the person is temporarily absent the person has the intention of returning. To prove domicile in Wyoming under this act a person shall be able to establish that he:

(A) Physically resides in Wyoming;

(B) Has made his permanent home in Wyoming;

(C) Is not residing in Wyoming for a special or temporary purpose; and

(D) Has abandoned his domicile in all other states, territories or countries.

(v) "Resident" means a United States citizen or legal alien who meets the requirements specified in W.S. 30-6-104(a)(i) through (iv).