SEC. 4. The board shall be in continuous session and open for the transaction of business during all the business hours of each and every day, excepting Sundays and legal holidays. All sessions shall be open to the public, and shall stand and be adjourned without further notice thereof on its records. All proceedings of the board shall be shown on its record of proceedings, which shall be a public record, and shall contain a record of each case considered, and the award made with respect thereto, and all voting shall be had by the calling of each member's name by the secretary and each vote shall be recorded as cast.

SEC. 5. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and a vacancy shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all the powers of the full board so long as a majority remains. Any investigations, inquiry or hearing which the board is authorized to hold, or undertake, may be held or undertaken by or before any one member of the board. All investigations, inquiries, hearings and decisions of the board, and every order made by a member thereof, when approved and confirmed by a majority of the members, and so shown on its record of proceedings, shall be deemed to be the order of the board.

SEC. 6. The board shall keep and maintain its office in the city of Columbus, and shall provide a suitable room or rooms, necessary office furniture, supplies, books, periodicals and maps. All necessary expenses shall be audited and paid out of the State insurance fund. The board may hold sessions at any place within the State. SEC. 7. The board may employ a secretary, actuary, accountants, inspectors, examiners, experts, clerks, stenographers and other assistants, and fix their compensation. Such employments and compensation shall be first approved by the governor, and shall be paid out of the State insurance fund. The members of the board, actuaries, accountants, inspectors, examiners, experts, clerks, stenographers and other assistants that may be employed shall be entitled to receive from the State insurance fund their actual and necessary expenses while traveling in the business of the board. Such expenses shall be itemized and sworn to by the person who incurred the expense, and allowed by the board.

SEC. 8. The board shall adopt reasonable and proper rules to govern its procedure, regulate and provide for the kind and character of notices, and the services thereof, in cases of accident and injury to employes, the nature and extent of the proofs and evidence, and the method of taking and furnishing the same, to establish the right to benefits of compensation from the State insurance fund, hereinafter provided for, the forms of application of those claiming to be entitled to benefits or compensation therefrom, the method of making investigations, physical examinations and inspections, and prescribe the time within which adjudications and awards shall be made.

SEC. 9. Every employer of labor shall furnish the board, upon request, all information required by it to carry out the purposes of this act. The board or any member thereof, or any person employed by the board for that purpose, shall have the right to examine under oath any employer or officer, agent or employee thereof.

SEC. 10. Every employer of labor receiving from the board any blank with directions to fill the same, shall cause the same to be properly filled out as to answer fully and correctly all questions therein propounded, and if unable to do so shall give good and sufficient reasons for such failure. Answers to such questions shall be verified under oath and returned to the board within the period fixed by the board for such return.

SEC. 11. Each member of the board, the secretary and every inspector or examiner appointed by the board shall, for the purposes contemplated by this act, have power to administer oaths, certify to official acts, take depositions, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, accounts, papers, records, documents and testimony.

SEC. 12. In case of disobedience of any person to comply with the order of the board, or subpoena issued by it as one of its inspectors, or examiners, or on the refusal of a witness to testify to any matter regarding which he may be lawfully interrogated, or refuse to permit an inspection as aforesaid, the probate judge of the county in which the person resides, on application of any member of the board, or any inspector or examiner appointed by it, shall compel obedience by attachment proceedings as for contempt, as in the case of disobedience of the requirements of subpoena issued from such court on a refusal to testify therein.

SEC. 13. Each officer who serves such subpoena shall receive the same fees as a sheriff, and each witness who appears, in obedience to a subpoena, before the board or an inspector or examiner, shall receive for his attendance the fees and mileage provided for witnesses in civil cases in courts of common pleas, which shall be audited and paid by from such State insurance fund in the same manner as other expenses

are audited and paid, upon the presentation of proper vouchers approved by the chairman and secretary of the board. No witness subpoenaed at the instance of a party other than the board or an inspector shall be entitled to compensation from the State insurance fund unless the board shall certify that his testimony was material to the matter investigated.

SEC. 14. In an investigation, the board may cause depositions of witnesses residing within or without the State to be taken in the manner prescribed by the law for like depositions in civil actions in the court of common pleas.

SEC. 15. A transcribed copy of the evidence and proceedings, or any specific part thereof, or any investigation, by a stenographer appointed by the board, being certified by such stenographer to be a true and correct transcript of the testimony on the investigation, or of a particular witness, or of a specific part thereof, carefully compared by him with his original notes, and to be a correct statement of the evidence and proceedings had on such investigation so purporting to be taken and subscribed, may be received in evidence by the board with the same effect as if such stenographer were present and testified to the facts so certified. A copy of such transcript shall be furnished on demand to any party upon the payment of the fee therefor, as provided for transcript in courts of common pleas.

SEC. 16. The board shall prepare and furnish blank forms, and provide in its rules for their distribution so that the same may be readily available, of application for benefits or compensation from the State insurance fund, notices to employers, proofs of injury or death, of medical attendance, of employment and wage earnings, and such other blanks as may be deemed proper and advisable, and it shall be the duty of insured employers to constantly keep on hand a sufficient supply of such blanks.

SEC. 17. The State Liability Board of Awards shall classify employments with respect to their degree of hazard, and determine the risks of the different classes and fix the rates of premium of the risks of the same, based upon the total pay roll and number of employees in each of said classes of employment, sufficiently large to provide an adequate fund for the compensation and expenses provided for in this act, and to create a surplus sufficiently large to guarantee a State insurance fund from year to year.

SEC. 18. The State Liability Board of Awards shall establish a State insurance fund from premiums paid thereto by employers of labor and employees as herein provided, according to the rates of risk in the classes established by it, as herein provided, for the benefit of employees of employers that have paid the premium applicable to the classes to which they belong and for the benefit of the dependents of such employees, and shall adopt rules and regulations with respect to the collection. maintenance and disbursement of said fund.

SEC. 19. The treasurer of State shall be the custodian of the State insurance fund, and all disbursement therefrom shall be paid by him, but upon vouchers signed by any two members of the State Liability Board of Awards.

SEC. 20. The treasurer of State shall give a separate and additional bond, in such amount as may be fixed by the governor, and with sureties to his approval, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties as custodian of the State insurance fund herein provided for.

SEC. 20-1. Any employer of labor who shall pay into the State insurance fund the premiums provided by this act, shall not be liable to respond in damages at common law or by statute, save as hereinafter provided, for injuries or death of any such employee during the period covered by such premiums, provided the injured employee has remained in his service with notice that his employer has paid into the State insurance fund the premiums provided by this act; the continuation in the service of such employer with such notice, shall be deemed a waiver by the employee of his right of action as aforesaid.

Each employer paying the premiums provided by this act into the State insurance fund shall post in conspicuous places about his place or places of business typewritten or printed notices stating the fact that he has made such payment; and the same, when so posted, shall constitute sufficient notice to his employees of the fact that he has made such payment; and of any subsequent payments he may make after such notices have been posted.

SEC. 20-2. For the purpose of creating such State insurance fund, each employer and his employees shall pay, on or before January 1, 1912, and semiannually thereafter, the premiums of liability risk in the classes of employment as may be determined and pubfished by the State Liability Board of Awards. The said employers for themselves and their employees shall make such payments to the State treasurer of Ohio, who shall receive and place the same to the credit of such State insurance fund. The premiums provided for in this act shall be paid by the employer and employees in the following proportions, to wit: Ninety per cent of the premium shall be paid by the employer

and ten per cent by the employees. Each employer is authorized to deduct from the pay roll of his employees ten per cent of the said premiums for any premium period in proportion to the pay roll of such employees; no deduction shall be made except for that portion of the premium period antedating such pay roll. Each employer shall give a receipt to each employee showing the amount which has been deducted and paid into the State insurance fund.

SEC. 21. The State Liability Board of Awards shall disburse the State insurance fund to such employees of employers as have paid into said fund the premiums applicable to the classes to which they belong, that have been injured in the course of their employment and which have not been purposely self-inflicted, or to their dependents in case death has ensued.

SEC. 21-1. All employers of labor who shall not pay into the State insurance fund the premiums provided by this act, shall be liable to their employees for damages suffered by reason of personal injuries sustained in the course of employment caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of the employer, or any of the employer's officers, agents or employees, and also to the personal representatives of such employees where death results from such injuries and in such action the defendant shall not avail himself of the following common-law defenses:

The defense of the fellow-servant rule, defense of the assumption of risk, or the defense of contributory negligence.

But where a personal injury is suffered by an employee, or when death results to an employee from personal injuries while in the employ of an employer in the course of employment, and such employer has paid into the State insurance fund the premium provided for in this act, and in case such injury has arisen from the willful act of such employer or from the failure of such employer or any of such employer's officers or agents to comply with any municipal ordinance or lawful order of any duly authorized officer, or any statute regulating the health, comfort, life, or safety of employees, then in such event, nothing in this act contained shall affect the civil liability of such employer but such injured employee or his legal representative, in case death results from the injury, may, at his option, either claim compensation under this act or institute proceedings in the courts for his damage on account of such injury, and such employer shall not be liable for any injury to any employee or to his legal representative, in case death results, except as provided in this act.

Every employee or legal representative, in case death results, who accepts an award from the State Liability Board of Awards, waives his right to exercise his option to institute proceedings in court. Every employee or his legal representative, in case death results, who exercises his option to institute proceedings in court, as provided in section 21-1 waives his right to any award, except as provided in section 36 of this act. SEC. 22. Where an employer has paid a judgment recovered against him for injuries, or on account of the death of an employee, he shall, if he has paid into the State insurance fund, the premiums provided for in this act to insure him against liability for such injuries or death, be reimbursed therefrom to the extent of, but in no case to exceed, the amount provided for in this act, to be paid in case of injury or death, not, however, in any case, to exceed the amount of such judgment and court costs so paid by such employer, such reimbursement to be made upon proof of payment of such judgment, satisfactory to the board and allowed by it, and payable in the same manner as benefits or compensation to injured employees or their dependents.

SEC. 23. The board shall disburse and pay from the fund, for such injury, to such employees, such amounts for medical, nurse and hospital services and medicines, as it may deem proper, not, however, in any case, to exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, in addition to such award to such employee.

SEC. 24. In case death ensues from the injury reasonable funeral expenses, not to exceed one hundred and fifty dollars, shall be paid from the fund, in addition to such award to such employee.

SEC. 25. No benefit shall be allowed for the first week after the injury is received, except the disbursement provided for in the next two preceding sections.

SEC. 26. In case of temporary or partial disability, the employee shall receive sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the impairment of his earning capacity during the continuance thereof, not to exceed a maximum of twelve dollars per week, and not less than a minimum of five dollars per week, if the employee's wages were less than five dollars per week, then he shall receive his full wages; but not to continue for more than six years from the date of the injury, nor to exceed three thousand four hundred dollars in amount from that injury.

SEC. 27. In case of permanent total disability the award shall be 663 per cent of the average weekly wage, and shall continue until the death of such person so totally disabled. The award where death results from an injury shall not exceed thirtyfour hundred dollars.

SEC. 28. In case the injury causes death the benefits shall be in the amounts and to the persons following:

1. If there be no dependents, the disbursements from the insurance fund shall be limited to the expense provided for in sections 23 and 24.

2. If there are wholly dependent persons at the time of the death, the payment shall be sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the average weekly wage and to continue for the remainder of the period between the date of the injury and six years thereafter, and not to amount to more than a maximum of thirty-four hundred dollars, nor less than a minimum of one thousand five hundred dollars.

3. If there are partly dependent persons at the time of the death, the payment shall be sixty-six and two-thirds per cent of the average weekly wage and to continue for all or such portion of the period of six years after the date of the injury, as the board in each case may determine, and not to amount to more than a maximum of thirtyfour hundred dollars.

SEC. 29. The benefits, in case of death, shall be paid to such one or more of the dependents of the decedent, for the benefit of all the dependents, as may be determined by the board, which may apportion the benefits among the dependents in such manner as it may deem just and equitable. Payment to a dependent subsequent in right may be made, if the board deem proper, and shall operate to discharge all other claims therefor.

SEC. 30. The dependent or person to whom benefits are paid shall apply the same to the use of the several beneficiaries thereof according to their respective claims upon the decedent for support, in compliance with the finding and direction of the board.

SEC. 31. The average weekly wage of the injured person at the time of the injury shall be taken as the basis upon which to compute the benefits.

SEC. 32. If it is established that the injured employee was of such age and experience when injured as that under natural conditions his wages would be expected to increase, the fact may be considered in arriving at his average weekly wage.

SEC. 33. The power and jurisdiction of the board over each case shall be continuing, and it may from time to time make such modification or change with respect to former findings or orders with respect thereto, as, in its opinion, may be justified.

SEC. 34. The board, under special circumstances, and when the same is deemed advisable, may commute periodical benefits to one or more lump sum payments. SEC. 35. Benefits before payment shall be exempt from all claims or creditors and from any attachment or execution, and shall be paid only to such employees or their dependents.

SEC. 36. The board shall have full power and authority to hear and determine all questions within its jurisdiction, and its decision thereon shall be final.

In case the final action of such board denies the right of the claimant to participate at all in such fund on the ground that the injury was self-inflicted or on the ground that the accident did not arise in the course of employment, or upon any other ground going to the basis of the claimant's right, then the claimant within thirty (30) days after the notice of the final action of such board may, by filing his appeal in the common pleas court of the county wherein the injury was inflicted, be entitled to a trial in the ordinary way, and be entitled to a jury if he demands it. In such a proceeding, the prosecuting attorney of the county, without additional compensation, shall represent the State Liability Board of Awards, and he shall be notified by the clerk forthwith of the filing of such appeal.

Within thirty days after filing his appeal, the appellant shall file a petition in the ordinary form against such board as defendant and further pleadings shall be had in said cause according to the rules of civil procedure, and the court, or the jury, under the instructions of the court, if a jury is demanded, shall determine the right of the claimant; and, if they determine the right in his favor, shall fix his compensation within the limits and under the rules prescribed in this act; and any final judgment so obtained shall be paid by the State Liability Board of Awards out of the State insurance fund in the same manner as such awards are paid by such board.

The costs of such proceeding, including a reasonable attorney's fee to the claimant's attorney to be fixed by the trial judge, shall be taxed against the unsuccessful party. Either party shall have the right to prosecute error as in the ordinary civil cases.

SEC. 36-1. Such board shall not be bound by the usual common-law or statutory rules of evidence or by any technical or formal rules of procedure, other than as herein provided; but may make the investigation in such manner as in their judgment, is best calculated to ascertain the substantial rights of the parties and to carry out justly the spirit of this act.

SEC. 37. The board may make necessary expenditures to obtain statistical and other information to establish the classes provided for in section 17. The salaries and compensation of the secretary, and all actuaries, accountants, inspectors, examiners,

experts, clerks and other assistants, and all other expenses of the board herein authorized including the premium to be paid by the State treasurer for the bond to be furnished by him, shall be paid out of the State insurance fund upon vouchers, signed by two of the members of such board, presented to the auditor of State, who shall issue his warrant therefor as in other cases.

SEC. 38. No provision of this act relating to the amount of compensation shall be considered by, or called to the attention of the jury on the trial of any action to recover damages as herein provided.

SEC. 39. Annually on or before the 15th day of November, such board, under the oath of at least two of its members, shall make a report to the governor which shall include a statement of the number of awards made by it, and a general statement of the causes of the accidents leading to the injuries for which the awards were made, a detailed statement of the disbursement from the expense fund, and the condition of its respective funds, together with any other matters which such board deems it proper to call to the attention of the governor, including any recommendations it may have to

make.

SEC. 40. The expense of such board in carrying out the provisions of this act shall be paid until January 1, 1912, out of the general revenue of the State not otherwise appropriated. Such expense shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars in addition to the salaries of members of such board.