NRS616B.710. Establishment and administration of program: Prerequisites; mandatory participation; payments to contractors or subcontractors; Commissioner to establish threshold cost for project eligible for program.

      1.  A private company, public entity or utility may:

      (a) Establish and administer a consolidated insurance program to provide industrial insurance coverage for employees of contractors and subcontractors who are engaged in a construction project of which the private company, public entity or utility is the owner or principal contractor, if the estimated total cost of the construction project is equal to or greater than the threshold amount established by the Commissioner pursuant to subsection 3; and

      (b) As a condition precedent to the award of a contract to perform work on the construction project, require that contractors and subcontractors who will be engaged in the construction of the project participate in the consolidated insurance program.

      2.  If a private company, public entity or utility:

      (a) Establishes and administers a consolidated insurance program; and

      (b) Pursuant to the contract for the construction of the project, owes a periodic payment to a contractor or subcontractor whose employees are covered under the consolidated insurance program,

Ê the private company, public entity or utility shall not withhold such a periodic payment on the basis that the contractor or subcontractor has not signed an employer’s report of industrial injury or occupational disease as required pursuant to NRS 616C.045.

      3.  The Commissioner shall establish the threshold amount that the estimated total cost of a construction project must be equal to or greater than before a consolidated insurance program may be established and administered for that project pursuant to this section. The base amount for the threshold must initially be $150,000,000 and thereafter must be an amount equal to $150,000,000 as adjusted by the Commissioner on June 30 of each year to reflect the present value of that amount with respect to the construction cost index.

      4.  As used in this section:

      (a) “Construction cost index” means the construction cost index published by the Engineering News-Record as a measure of inflation.

      (b) “Estimated total cost” means the estimated cost to complete all parts of a construction project, including, without limitation, the cost of:

             (1) Designing the project;

             (2) Acquiring the real property on which the project will be constructed;

             (3) Connecting the project to utilities;

             (4) Excavating and carrying out underground improvements for the project; and

             (5) Acquiring equipment and furnishings for the project.

Ê The term does not include the cost of any fees or charges associated with acquiring the money necessary to complete the project.

      (Added to NRS by 1999, 3141)