Bill Text: CA AB1472 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Property insurance: Seismic Safety Account.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-06-15 - From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 4.) (June 15). Read second time. Ordered to third reading. [AB1472 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1472-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1472 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Budget (Skinner (Chair), Bloom, Campos,
Chesbro, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Gordon, Jones-Sawyer, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Rodriguez, Stone, Ting, and Weber)
JANUARY 9, 2014
An act relating to the Budget Act of 2014.
An act to amend Section 12975.9 of the Insurance Code, relating to
property insurance, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1472, as amended, Committee on Budget. Budget Act of
2014. Property insurance: Seismic Safety Account.
Existing law created the Seismic Safety Account as a special
account within the Insurance Fund with the funds to be distributed,
upon appropriation, to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety
Commission for the support of the commission and to the Department of
Insurance for the actual administrative costs incurred in collecting
the assessments. In order to fund the account, an assessment, as
specified, is imposed on each person who owns real property,
commercial or residential, that is covered by a property insurance
policy.
This bill would extend that assessment to each person who rents or
leases real property, commercial or residential, that is covered by
a property insurance policy.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2014.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 12975.9 of the
Insurance Code is amended to read:
12975.9. (a) The Seismic Safety Account is hereby created as a
special account within the Insurance Fund. Moneys in the account are
available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of
this section to fund the department and the Alfred E. Alquist
Seismic Safety Commission.
(b) There is hereby imposed an assessment on each person who owns
, rents, or leases real property, commercial or
residential, that is insured by a property insurance policy. The
department shall calculate the annual assessment to be charged to
each commercial and residential earned property exposure. The
assessment shall be set annually every August 1, beginning August 1,
2014, for all commercial and residential earned property exposures
reported during the previous calendar year. The annual assessment
shall be set at fifteen cents ($0.15) per earned property exposure
for the first three years of the implementation of this section. Each
year thereafter, the annual assessment shall be based upon the
number of earned property exposures from both commercial and
residential insurance policies, the amount required for the support
of the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, the actual
collection and administrative costs of the department, and the
maintenance of an adequate reserve, but shall not exceed fifteen
cents ($0.15) per earned property exposure.
(c) The insurer, upon receipt of an invoice from the department,
shall transmit payment to the department for deposit into the Seismic
Safety Account. The insurer shall recover the assessment from the
insured, unless the insurer elects to pay the assessment on the
insured's behalf. The insurer may provide a description of the
assessment to the insured as part of its billing statement. Any
deficiency or excess in the amount collected in relation to the
appropriation authority for the commission and the department shall
be accounted for in the subsequent annual fee calculation. Any
balance remaining in the Seismic Safety Account at the end of each
fiscal year shall be retained in the account and carried forward to
the next fiscal year.
(d) Funds in the Seismic Safety Account shall be distributed, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic
Safety Commission for the support of the commission and to the
department for the actual administrative costs incurred in collecting
the assessments.
(e) Any assessment collected from an insured that has not been
remitted to the department shall be a debt owed to the state by the
insurer. This part does not impose any obligation upon an insurer to
take any legal action to enforce the collection of the assessment
imposed by this section.
(f) Payment of the assessment shall be considered delinquent if
not paid within 45 days of the invoice date. The department is
authorized to charge a late fee of 1.5 percent per month of the
balance due, compounded monthly, for any amount not paid within this
period in accordance with Section 12995.
(g) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code,
the department shall report by December 1 of each year, beginning on
December 1, 2014, to the Legislature, the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic
Safety Commission, and the Department of Finance on the assessment
calculation methodology employed.
(2) A report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this
subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to protect the public from the continuing threat of loss
of life and property damage due to earthquakes, it is necessary that
this act take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2014.
