Montana § 39-71-2311 - Intent And Purpose Of Plan -- Expense Constant Defined

§ 39-71-2311. Intent And Purpose Of Plan -- Expense Constant Defined

Intent and purpose of plan -- expense constant defined. (1) It is the intent and purpose of the state fund to allow employers an option to insure their liability for workers' compensation and occupational disease coverage with the state fund. The state fund must be neither more nor less than self-supporting. Premium rates must be set at least annually at a level sufficient to ensure the adequate funding of the insurance program, including the costs of administration, benefits, and adequate reserves, during and at the end of the period for which the rates will be in effect. In determining premium rates, the state fund shall make every effort to adequately predict future costs. When the costs of a factor influencing rates are unclear and difficult to predict, the state fund shall use a prediction calculated to be more than likely to cover those costs rather than less than likely to cover those costs. The prediction must take into account the goal of pooling risk and may not place an undue burden on employers that are not eligible for the tier with the lowest-rated premium for workers' compensation purposes. (2) Unnecessary surpluses that are created by the imposition of premiums found to have been set higher than necessary because of a high estimate of the cost of a factor or factors may be refunded by the declaration of a dividend as provided in this part. For the purpose of keeping the state fund solvent, the board of directors may implement multiple rating tiers as provided in 39-71-2330 and may assess an expense constant, a minimum premium, or both. (3) As used in this section, "expense constant" means a premium charge applied to each workers' compensation policy to pay expenses related to issuing, servicing, maintaining, recording, and auditing the policy.