PA House Labor and Industry — 2026-04-13

So good morning. I would like to call this meeting of the House and Labor Industry Committee to order. Jonathan, please take the roll.

Brendan. Here.

Jerole. Here.

Gleim. Designation.

Razzle. Designation.

Rossi. Here.

House Bill 2049, printer's number 2624, amends the Workers' Compensation Act to increase burial benefits from $7,000 to $20,000 and implements an annual cost of living adjustment.

Thank you, Chairman, and thank you for bringing this bill up. I'm really excited to have an opportunity to move this bill forward because it's really a chance to provide a little better quality of justice to the families of workers who are killed in the line of work. And for those of you who know a little bit about the workers' comp code, it's a balance. There's a balance between rules of negligence and the concern for protecting our employees. So when a person is injured at work, even if their employer is negligent, these injured workers cannot sue. their only route to relief is the workers' comp code. And that can lead to very difficult results for these folks who are killed. And, you know, they have no other avenue of relief except for the benefits that they're provided under the workers' comp code. So if you do not have dependents, you have no workers' comp, you have your medical bills, and you have the funeral benefit being paid to you. And if you're a 50-year-old who's divorced, your family, your daughters or your sons are 20 years old, they're going to be left with the bill for your death. And if you're a parent and your young child goes to work, as you really hope your young kids do, and is killed at work, and you left with whatever the difference is between that cost is and what provided under the Act So while I sure we all appreciative that the emergency room bill is paid that some benefit is provided to these families you know we need to make sure that that is in line with what is just and what is fair, and that's what our duties is here in this body. And when we're telling that family of, you know, a 19-year-old who's killed at work or that daughter of a divorced parent or whoever it is that doesn't have dependents, that you're going to have to cover the difference between the cost of what the reality is of a burial and final preparations and what's provided for under the act. That's problematic. So I'm very thankful that deaths are declining in Pennsylvania over the last few years. In 2024, there were only 75 such deaths in Pennsylvania, So I think that's another thing that my fellow members should see and understand as an opportunity at a minimal cost to provide a little bit more justice for these families. And we need to provide our working people dignity. We need to make sure that these families are treated fairly. And when you look at the numbers provided by Department of Labor and others, the cost for a funeral is far in excess of what we're providing under the act currently. So we had a recent change from 3,000 to 7,000. Department of Insurance has indicated that that did not provide any material effect on rates. We have 300-plus insurers here in Pennsylvania with 75 deaths. This small change is a chance to do good for our injured workers, and I encourage you all to vote yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Amendment 2847 by Chairman James sets the maximum burial benefit at $10,000 and removes the annual inflationary adjustment.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to offer a couple of comments. I think everybody in agreement, even Chairman Dawkins and I, agreed before this got started that funerals are getting pretty expensive. So I think it's absolutely appropriate to bring up and discuss and opine on the proper amount. I think that's part of our job here in the legislature. So I'm not opposed to the amendment itself, But I have a problem with the amount of money. $20,000 perhaps is a dollar figure that on certain geographic areas makes a degree of sense. However, depending on whose research you might look at, the average cost of the funeral expenses around the country, really, not just Pennsylvania, is closer to about $8,500 to $9,500. I have also done a calculation, and thanks to my executive director, If we applied the rate of inflation between 2018 and to date, it looks like had we had a cost of living adjustment, the amount would be in the neighborhood of $9,200 benefit at this moment. So my proposition is that we exercise our appropriate responsibilities in this legislature in 2026 and increase the amount to $10,000, which would certainly cover the difference, and remove the cost of living adjustment and thus put the responsibility of an appropriate amount in the future on future legislators. So that pretty much covers my rationale. Thank you, Chair.

I would thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd ask that we oppose this amendment. I certainly do respect Chairman James' opinion on this, and I actually genuinely agree that there are some disparities across Pennsylvania in the amounts that it costs for a funeral. But from the records that I'm getting from the Department of Labor, in Crawford County and Venango County, where Chairman James represents, in 2024 the costs were $13,500. And like everything else right now, costs are drastically going up. And in 2025, that same cost in Crawford and Venango County is over $20,000. And that's not including the extraordinary costs that are associated with the burial. And we have a lot of these numbers because our undertakers receive estimates for these issues to have a set aside from Medicaid. So Bucks County, where I represent, it's $20,000. and now in 2025 it's up to 23,000. And if you average across the state, it's approximately 19,000. So while there are disparities, I think we need to have a much more thoughtful review of what those numbers should be. And I think that, you know, unless you live in Juniata County in 2024, there's no place in Pennsylvania that you're going to bury someone for under $10,000. So I'd urge a no vote on this amendment. Thank you.

Dawkins?

Brennan?

Donahue?

James?

Gleim?

Jones?

Razzle?

Reichard?

Rossi?

The amendment fails.

Amendment A-02847 is not agreed to. Representative Rossi will be offering Amendment A-02868.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My amendment requires the undertaker to refund benefit money that is in excess of the actual burial cost to the surviving spouse or other dependents of the deceased. I recently assisted a family through a sudden accidental death in my district, and being around the family while they were making funeral arrangements, it was clear that the spouse of the deceased knew their loved one's exact wishes. The deceased wanted minimal expense, cremation, and limited funeral services. As the undertaker sat down with all of us and went over the wide range of pricing for the full cost of the funeral visitation, graveside service, and burial or cremation options, I don't recall it being anywhere near $20,000, and I think you'll find that prices range across the state from county to county. When checking with the Department of Labor and Industry and also other representatives of the insurance industry, currently the insurance carriers administer this benefit by simply sending a payment in full to the funeral home for the full amount of the maximum burial benefit when they receive a request for the burial money. What this increase can mean is that funeral homes will often be receiving payment in full, complying with the maximum benefit to be paid for services they did not provide, especially if those were services not wanted by the family, and the cost of the funeral does happen to be less than the maximum benefit noted in the bill. My amendment will ensure that when excess payment is received from an insurance carrier, the funeral home will be required to refund that amount to the surviving spouse or other dependents of the deceased, along with an invoice for the services that they provided. Our workers' compensation law already provides an order of succession for who receives certain payments when a claimant passes away, so existing law will ensure consistency with this refund-making, the surviving spouse and the children first on the list. If the funeral director does not give the money to the family, the family could then take legal action. if the law says they are to get these funds. I still believe the increase in the bill is higher than where it needs to be, but I hope that we could at least agree to ensure that the dependents of the deceased would receive any excess money instead of providing a potential windfall for funeral homes. And I ask that the committee consider my amendment and vote in affirmative. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sure we all understand that the nature of providing insurance benefits to recipients tends to cost some people more than others. For example, the cost of providing a $20,000 benefit spread across everyone who's paying into that program would tend to benefit areas that have more expensive funerals more than it would areas that have less expensive funerals. And I think the point that my colleagues have made that part of the intent of the underlying bill is to provide a kind of dignity and justice for the families who are grieving the loss of a loved one, that this is a very fair compromise to give back to maybe to those places who will be paying in a more expensive rate for workman's comp. But if funerals don't cost as much in that area, well, then that family gets the benefit of that. I think it's a fair compromise and we'll be supporting this amendment. Thank you.

I'd like to thank Representative Rossi for this amendment. This is a very positive amendment for injured workers. And I do agree that maybe in Westmoreland County where Rep. Rossi represents the costs are a little bit lower, but there's still approximately $19,000 according to the department. I would I would I think we do have an issue with accountability for our undertakers in putting together records and showing folks what being spent and I think we need to work on the language You know I think there a couple of things we need to clean up so I would certainly be willing to work with the representative on an amendment, but at this time I think we need to work on the language, and I would urge a no vote at this time. Thank you.

Dawkins?

Brennan?

Donahue?

James?

Gleim?

Jones?

Brazel?

Reichard?

Rossi?

The amendment fails.

Amendment A-02868 is not agreed to. Are there any comments or questions on House Bill 2049? I now recognize Chairman James.

Any other member would like to be recognized? Seeing none, well, House Bill 2049 increases the maximum amount of money that an employer or insurer must pay an undertaker for the burial of a worker who died on a job. This is a common-sense legislation to ensure families can afford to bury their loved ones with dignity and respect after the loss of life at work. obviously given recent events in the city of Philadelphia and our hearts go out to the workers that lost their life on the job. This is personal and we want to ensure that we have this dignity for all workers throughout this commonwealth so I would urge folks to support this legislation. So John with that you can take the roll. Dawkins

Donahue. Yes. Jarrell. Yes.

Green?

James?

Gleim?

Jones?

Razzle?

Reichard?

Rossi?

The bill passes as committed.

House Bill 2049 is favorably reported as committed. I would now like to call up Senate Bill 867, printer's number 968, introduced by Senator Tartag-Leon. Ryan, please explain the bill.

Are there any comments or questions on Senate Bill 867? I now recognize Chair James.

Thank you.

Thank you.