SB1404 • 2026

provider benefits; employees; injuries; provider

SB1404 - provider benefits; employees; injuries; provider

Healthcare Labor

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Janae Shamp
Last action: 2026-01-28
Official status: Senate second read
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify details on dispute resolution mechanisms for translation services or travel expenses.

Worker Benefits and Compensation

This bill amends Arizona Revised Statutes section 23-1062, changing how workers' compensation benefits are provided for medical care choices, translation services, travel expenses, and payment methods.

What This Bill Does

Allows injured employees to choose their own doctors, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers for treatment related to work injuries.
Requires employers or insurance companies to provide certified translators if needed by the employee, unless an agreement is made on a non-certified translator when a certified one cannot be found.
Reimburses employees for travel expenses when they need to go more than 25 miles from home to get medical care.
Changes how and when compensation payments are made to injured workers.

Who It Names or Affects

Injured workers who receive workers' compensation benefits in Arizona.
Employers and insurance companies that provide workers' compensation coverage.

Terms To Know

Workers' Compensation: A type of insurance that provides medical care, rehabilitation, and wage replacement to employees who are injured or become ill on the job.
Negotiable Instrument: A document like a check or draft that can be transferred from one person to another as payment.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify how disputes over translation services will be resolved.
It is unclear what happens if an employer cannot find a certified translator for the language needed by the injured worker and no agreement can be made on a non-certified translator.

Bill History

2026-01-28 Senate
Senate second read
2026-01-27 Senate
Senate Rules: None
2026-01-27 Senate
Senate Finance: None
2026-01-27 Senate
Senate first read

Official Summary Text

SB1404 - provider benefits; employees; injuries; provider

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SB1404 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
provider benefits; employees; injuries; provider

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1404

Introduced by

Senator
Shamp

AN
ACT

amending section 23-1062, arizona
revised statutes; relating to workers' compensation.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 23-1062, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
23-1062.

Medical, surgical, hospital benefits; translation services;
travel expenses; commencement of compensation; method of compensation

A. Promptly, on notice to the employer, every
injured employee shall receive medical, surgical and hospital benefits or other
treatment, nursing, medicine, surgical supplies, crutches and other apparatus,
including artificial members, reasonably required at the time of the injury,
and during the period of disability. Such benefits shall be termed
"medical, surgical and hospital benefits".�
For the
purposes of this subsection and except as provided in section 23-1070, an
injured employee may choose all of the following that are related to medical,
surgical and hospital benefits:

1. The medical provider.

2. The pharmacy that provides
prescription drugs.

3. An ancillary service that
includes:

(
a
) Laboratory
services.

(
b
) Imaging
services.

(
c
) Durable
medical equipment.

B. Medical, surgical and hospital benefits include
translation services, if needed.� A carrier, self-insurance pool or
employer that does not direct care pursuant to section 23-1070 may choose
the translator if the translator is certified by an outside agency and is not
an employee of the carrier, self-insurance pool or
employer. If the carrier, self-insurance pool or employer is
unable to locate a certified translator for the particular language or dialect
needed, the parties may agree on a translator who is not a certified
translator.

C. Compensation for medical, surgical and hospital
benefits shall include reimbursement for reasonable travel expenses if the
employee must travel more than twenty-five miles from the employee's
place of residence to obtain medical care for the injury.

D. The first installment of compensation is to be
paid
no

not
later than the twenty-first
day after written notification by the commission to the carrier of the filing
of a claim unless the right to compensation is denied. Thereafter,
compensation shall be paid at least once each two weeks during the period of
temporary total disability and at least monthly
thereafter. Compensation shall not be paid for the first seven days
after the injury. If the incapacity extends beyond the period of
seven days, compensation shall begin on the eighth day after the injury, but if
the disability continues for one week beyond such seven days, compensation
shall be computed from the date of the injury.

E. Compensation shall
be made by negotiable instrument, payable immediately on demand or, at the
election of the employee and if offered by the employer or carrier, by another
commonly accepted method for transferring money by banking institutions,
including electronic fund transfers to the employee's account or a prepaid
debit card account that is established for the purpose of making direct
electronic payment to the employee.
END_STATUTE