MICHIGAN.

Compensation of workmen for injuries.

Act may be

[Part I of the compensation law of the State (act No. 10, first extra session of 1912) is amended by act No. 249, acts of 1917, investigated. by adding thereto a new section, as follows:]

Section 9. Whenever in the opinion of the governor the provisions of this act shall be unfair to either employees or employers, he may appoint a commission consisting of three members, whose duty it shall be to thoroughly investigate the workings of this act and report thereon to the governor, such report to be submitted by him to the legislature at its first regular or special session held after the receipt of said report. Such report, in addition to the recommendations thereof, shall contain the text of needed changes or amendments to place this act upon a perfectly fair basis. The members of said commission shall have power to summon witnesses, administer oaths and compel the commission. production of books and papers. They shall each receive compensation at the rate of ten dollars per day, together with actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of official duties, such compensation and expenses to be audited and allowed by the board of State auditors and paid out of the general fund in the State treasury: Provided, however, Such compensation and expenses shall not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars.

[Section 11 of Part II is amended by act No. 41, acts of 1917, so as to read as follows:]

Sec. 11. (a) The term average annual earnings' as used in this act is defined to be fifty-two times the average weekly wages of the employee as arrived at according to the provisions of this section.

(b) The term "average weekly wages" as used in this act is defined to be six times the daily wage, salary or emolument which the injured employee is earning at the time he suffers the accidental injury.

(c) In cases where it is impossible to ascertain the exact daily wage, salary or emolument the injured employee is earning at the time he suffers the accidental injury, such daily earnings shall be taken and held to be for all the purposes of this act such a sum as having regard to the previous daily earnings of the injured employee and of other employees of the same or most similar class working in the same or most similar employment in the same or neighboring locality shall most nearly approximate the daily earnings of the said injured employee at the time he receives the accidental injury, in the employment in which he was working at such time. After the amount of said daily wage, salary or emolument shall be determined as in this subsection provided, said amount shall be multiplied by six, and the product so obtained shall be for all the purposes of this act taken and held to be the average weekly wages of such employee.

Powers of

Earnings computed, how.

juries

(d) The fact that an employee has suffered a previous disa- Second inbility or received compensation therefor, shall not preclude compensation for the later injury or for death. but in determining compensation for the later injury or death his average annual earnings shall be held to be such sum as will reasonably represent his annual earning capacity at the time of the later injury in the employment in which he was working at such time and shall be

Wage loss.

Receipts, expenditures, etc.

Annual meetings.

arrived at according to and subject to the provisions of this section.

(e) The weekly loss in wages referred to in this act shall consist of such percentage of the average weekly earnings of the injured employee computed according to the provisions of this section as shall fairly represent the proportionate extent of the impairment of his earning capacity in the employment in which he was working at the time of the accident, the same to be fixed as of the time of the accident, but to be determined in view of the nature and extent of the injury.

[Section 9 of Part V is amended by chapter 206, so as to read as follows:]

Sec. 9. The commissioner of insurance shall issue proper receipts for all moneys so collected and received from employers, as aforesaid, and shall take receipts for all sums paid to employees for compensation under the provisions of this act, and shall keep full and complete records of all business transacted by him in the administration of such funds. He may employ such deputies and assistants and clerical help as may be necessary, and as the advisory board, hereinafter created, may authorize, for the proper administration of said funds, and the performance of the duties imposed upon him by the provisions of this act, at such compensation as may be fixed by the advisory board, and may also remove them. The commissioner of insurance and such deputies and assistants shall be entitled to receive from the State their actual and necessary expenses while traveling upon the business of the accident fund, and all such salaries and expenses as authorized by the provisions of this act shall, when audited by the board of State auditors, be charged to and paid out of said accident fund. He shall include in his annual report a full and correct statement of the administration of such fund, showing its financial status, and outstanding obligations, the claims contested and why, and general statistics in respect to all business transacted by him under the provisions of this act.

[New sections are also added by the same chapter, as follows:] Sec. 12. An annual meeting of the employers contributing to the accident fund, shall be called by the commissioner of insurance, to be held in the city of Lansing, in the month of September, which may be attended by the members in person or by an attorney. Notice of the annual meeting shall be by ordinary mail, at least ten days prior to the date of meeting. At the annual meeting so Advisory held there shall be nominated by the members present, five contributing members to constitute an advisory board, who, when so nominated and certified by the governor, shall receive an appointment as such by the governor, to serve for the term of two years. In case of vacancy in the advisory board, a nomination may be made by the remaining members to the governor, for the purpose of filling said vacancy. The advisory board shall elect one of its members chairman, and the board shall meet quarterly on the call of the chairman, in the city of Lansing.

board.

Sec. 13. The advisory board shall advise with the commissioner of insurance as to the means and methods of administering the affairs of the said accident fund, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

[Section 7 of Part VI is amended by chapter 235, as follows:] Sec. 7. To carry out the provisions of this act there is hereby appropriated for the expenses of the industrial accident board for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred eighteen, and annually thereafter, the sum of seventy thousand dollars. The auditor general shall add to and incorporate into the State tax, the sum of seventy thousand dollars annually, which said sum shall be included in the State taxes apportioned by the auditor general on all taxable property of the State, to be levied, assessed and collected as other State taxes, and when so assessed and collected, to be paid into the general fund to reimburse said fund for the appropriation made by this act.

MINNESOTA.

Compensation of workmen for injuries.

[Section 13 of the compensation law of the State (chapter 467, acts of 1913) is amended by chapter 351, acts of 1917, by substituting sixty for fifty as the percentage of wages used as a measure of compensation; also by fixing the maximum weekly payment at $12 instead of $11.

Paragraph (e) is amended so as to read as follows:]

(e) The total and permanent loss of the sight of both eyes or Total disthe loss of both arms at the shoulder, or complete and permanent ability. paralysis, or total and permanent loss of mental faculties, or any other injury which totally incapacitates the employee from working at any occupation which brings him an income, shall constitute total disability.

[Paragraph (e)1, added by chapter 209, Acts of 1915, is repealed.

Section 17 is amended by chapter 302 by substituting the words "first week" for the words "first two weeks."]

By what is doubtless an oversight, the percentage was not changed in the case of the loss of an arm, the law remaining 50 per cent, as before. 249