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Banegas v. State Industrial Insurance System3/16/2001
oving the titles from all of the subsections and incorporating their language into the text of the subsections. See 1991 Nev. Stat., ch. 307, ยง 2, at 804-06.
Finally, the subject matter of the statute and the policy to be effectuated may be used in statutory construction. See Welfare Div. v. Washoe Co. Welfare Dep't., 88 Nev. 635, 638, 503 P.2d 457, 459 (1972). Nevada was one of the first states to enact workers' compensation laws with the primary purpose of providing economic assistance to persons who suffer disability or death as a result of their employment. See SIIS v. Lodge, 107 Nev. 867, 871, 822 P.2d 664, 666 (1991). Historically, this court liberally construed workers' compensation laws to grant benefits rather than deny them. See id.
However, in 1993, the Legislature adopted a new legislative declaration for the industrial insurance statutes that repudiates the application of common law principles and requires statutes governing workers' compensation to be interpreted according to their plain meaning. See NRS 616A.010 (substituted in 1995 recodification for NRS 616.012). Specifically, NRS 616A.010 provides:
"Legislative declarations: Statutory construction; repudiation of common law; basis of provisions; balanced interpretation required.
The legislature hereby determines and declares that:
1. The provisions of chapters 616A to 617, inclusive, of NRS must be interpreted and construed to ensure the quick and efficient payment of compensation to injured and disabled employees at a reasonable cost to the employers who are subject to the provisions of those chapters;
2. A claim for compensation filed pursuant to the provisions of chapters 616A to 616D, inclusive, or chapter 617 of NRS must be decided on its merit and not according to the principle of common law that requires statutes governing workers' compensation to be liberally construed because they are remedial in nature;
3. The provisions of chapters 616A to 617, inclusive, of NRS are based on a renunciation of the rights and defenses of employers and employees recognized at common law; and
4. For the accomplishment of these purposes, the provisions of chapters 616A to 617, inclusive, of NRS must not be interpreted or construed broadly or liberally in favor of an injured or disabled employee or his dependents, or in such a manner as to favor the rights and interests of an employer over the rights and interests of an injured or disabled employee or his dependents." NRS 616A.010.
The minutes from the hearings before both the Assembly Committee on Labor and Management and the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor indicate that the Legislature enacted NRS 616A.010 based upon the perception that the courts were construing various sections of the industrial insurance statutes too liberally and contrary to the plain meaning of the statutes. Viewed in light of NRS 616A.010, we conclude that NRS 616C.505(8) can only be interpreted to relate to partial dependency for those who are not conclusively presumed to be totally dependent on, but who have a legally recognized relationship to, the deceased employee.
Additionally, the enactment of NRS 616A.010 refutes Annabelle's alternative contention that the Legislature intended expansive definitions of the dependents specified in NRS 616C.505. In particular, Annabelle cites several cases from other jurisdictions in which the courts discussed the remedial purpose of workers' compensation laws and applied a common law liberal construction of them in holding that the definition of the term "wife" or "spouse" for purposes of death benefit eligibility under the applicable workers' compensation
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