Senate Bill 703 would amend North Carolina’s Workers’ Compensation Act to increase certain scheduled injury benefits and to create automatic annual cost-of-living adjustments tied to the Consumer Price Index. The bill raises the minimum weekly compensation floor for total disability from $30 to $50 and directs the Industrial Commission to adjust the maximum weekly benefit each year beginning July 1, 2026, if the June CPI increases. It also applies the same CPI-based annual adjustment mechanism to several scheduled injury awards.
The bill substantially increases the maximum compensation available for serious facial or head disfigurement, serious bodily disfigurement, and loss of or permanent injury to an important external or internal organ. Specifically, it raises the cap for facial or head disfigurement from $20,000 to $56,000, bodily disfigurement from $10,000 to $28,000, and organ loss or injury from $20,000 to $56,000, with future annual inflation adjustments. These changes would affect injured workers eligible for workers’ compensation and employers or insurers responsible for paying claims under the schedule of injuries.
Impact
The bill would amend G.S. 97-29 and G.S. 97-31 in the North Carolina General Statutes, changing both the amount and future indexing of workers’ compensation benefits. It would increase current statutory benefit caps for total disability and certain scheduled injuries, and it would require the North Carolina Industrial Commission to make annual CPI-based adjustments to those caps starting in 2026. The practical effect is to raise potential compensation exposure for employers and workers’ compensation carriers while increasing available benefits for injured employees with qualifying disabilities, disfigurement, or organ injuries.
Sentiment
The available context suggests the bill is generally supportive of injured workers and modernization of outdated compensation limits, as reflected in the bill title’s reference to updating 1987 rates and the inclusion of automatic inflation adjustments. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no direct evidence of opposition or debate in the materials supplied. Based on the text alone, the bill appears framed as a straightforward benefit update rather than a controversial policy shift.
Contention
The main likely point of contention is cost: the bill increases benefit caps significantly and adds automatic annual CPI indexing, which could raise long-term liabilities for employers, insurers, and the workers’ compensation system. Another possible issue is whether the scheduled injury awards should be adjusted by statute now and then indexed automatically in the future, rather than being revisited periodically by the legislature. No specific objections or named opponents appear in the provided transcripts or voting history, so any contention is inferred from the policy changes themselves rather than documented debate.