4121.79 Compensation, expenses, and purchasing policies of council. - Ohio Statutes

4121.79 Compensation, expenses, and purchasing policies of council.

(A) The director of the workers’ compensation council shall prepare and submit to the council, for its approval, a biennial budget that includes an itemized estimate of the amounts necessary to pay the expenses of the council during the succeeding biennium. The director may request and the council may approve, anytime during that biennium, additional amounts to cover costs for audits or other necessary expenses that were not included in that budget. After the budget is approved, the director of the council shall separate from the budget the portion covering the costs of compensation and benefits for the employees of the council and submit only that portion to the director of budget and management as the council’s budget request for purposes of section 126.02 of the Revised Code.

(B) The council shall establish policies and procedures for purchasing goods and services on a competitive basis and maintaining tangible personal property. The policies and procedures shall be designed to safeguard the use of funds received by the council. An audit performed under Chapter 117. of the Revised Code shall include a determination of the council’s compliance with those policies and procedures.

The council is not subject to the requirements specified in Chapter 123. or 125. of the Revised Code and those chapters do not apply to the council. However, the council may request the department of administrative services, and the department may agree, to perform for the council any of the services the department is authorized to perform under those chapters. The council may enter into an agreement with the director of administrative services for the performance of those requested services.

(C) There is hereby created the workers’ compensation council fund, which shall be in the custody of the treasurer of state but shall not be a part of the state treasury. The fund shall consist of all moneys transferred into it by the administrator of workers’ compensation pursuant to section 4123.342 of the Revised Code. The council shall use the fund to pay the expenses incurred by the council. Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, the treasurer of state shall disburse moneys from the fund upon instruments authorized by the council and signed by the director.

The council is the trustee of the workers’ compensation council fund. At the request of the director of the council, the treasurer of state shall select and contract with one or more investment managers to invest all money credited to the fund that is not currently needed for carrying out the functions of the council. The treasurer of state shall contract with an investment manager for whom the administrator requested a criminal records check pursuant to section 4123.444 of the Revised Code and who has not been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a financial or investment crime as defined in that section. The eligible list of investments shall be the same as those specified in the investment policy for the state insurance fund approved by the bureau of workers’ compensation board of directors pursuant to section 4121.12 of the Revised Code. All investments are subject to the same limitations and requirements as specified for the state insurance fund under sections 4121.12, 4121.126, 4121.127, 4123.44, and 4123.442 of the Revised Code. All investment earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund.

(D) There is hereby created in the state treasury the workers’ compensation council remuneration fund. The treasurer of state periodically shall pay into that fund, from the workers’ compensation council fund created in division (C) of this section, amounts requested by the director of the council to pay the compensation and benefits of the employees of the council. Amounts credited to the remuneration fund shall be used by the director of the council solely to pay the compensation and benefits of all employees of the council. All investment earnings of the remuneration fund shall be credited to that fund.

Effective Date: 2007 HB100 09-10-2007; 2008 HB79 01-06-2009