§ 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).