Bill Text: CA SB1161 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Residential property insurance: reporting requirements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-05-12 - Referral to Com. on JUD. rescinded due to the shortened 2020 Legislative Calendar. [SB1161 Detail]
Download: California-2019-SB1161-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 1161
| Introduced by Senators Rubio and McGuire |
February 20, 2020 |
An act to amend Sections 929, 929.1, and 929.3 of, and to add Sections 929.03 and 929.25 to, the Insurance Code, relating to insurance.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1161, as introduced, Rubio.
Residential property insurance: reporting requirements.
Existing law establishes the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, which regulates insurers and insurance practices. Existing law requires an admitted insurer with written California premiums totaling $10,000,000 or more, on or before April 1, 2020, and every 2 years thereafter, as specified, to submit a report to the commissioner with specified fire risk information on its residential property policies. Existing law subjects an admitted insurer that fails to submit a report to a civil penalty to be fixed by the commissioner, not to exceed $5,000, or $10,000 if the act was willful.
This bill would require an admitted insurer with written California premiums totaling $5,000,000 or more to submit an additional report to the commissioner, on or before March 1, 2021, and every year thereafter, for the prior year on policies of
residential property insurance written on risks located in California. The bill would require the report to contain information reported by ZIP code on the number of new policies, the number of policies renewed, and the number of policies nonrenewed. The bill would subject an admitted insurer that fails to submit a report to the civil penalties described above. The bill would provide that the information submitted to the commissioner in a report is confidential and not subject to subpoena, as specified.
The bill would require the commissioner, on or before May 15, 2021, and every year thereafter, to submit to the insurance committees of the Senate and Assembly a report on policy renewal and nonrenewals compiled from the data collected by insurers and to post the report on the department’s internet website.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the
meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 929 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:929.
(a) (1) On or before April 1, 2020, and every two years thereafter, an admitted insurer with written California premiums totaling ten million dollars ($10,000,000) or more shall submit a report to the commissioner on its residential property experience data for the previous two years for policies written in California.(2) The premium threshold for reporting shall be increased to twelve million dollars ($12,000,000) for the reports due on April 1, 2026, and shall thereafter be increased every five years by 20 percent of the threshold amount required in the year immediately preceding the increase.
(3) Reports filed on April 1, 2020, shall include data from calendar years 2018 and
2019. Subsequent reports shall likewise include data from the two calendar years immediately preceding the year in which the report is due.
(b) The commissioner may specify, by bulletin, the manner of submission and format of the report required pursuant to subdivision (a). The report shall include the following information reported by individual policy:
(1) Fire- or wildfire-incurred losses, if any, reported by property coverage category and the date of the loss.
(2) The public protection class or its equivalent, if utilized by the insurer.
(3) The specific numerical or other fire risk score and source of fire risk score, if applicable.
(4) Premium.
(5) ZIP Code.
(c) If the commissioner issues a bulletin pursuant to subdivision (b), the initial bulletin shall be posted to the department’s Internet Web site
internet website on or before May 1, 2019. Any updated bulletin shall be posted no less than two months before the date that the insurer’s report in which the changes are required is due.
(d) An insurance holding company system, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 1215, may submit a consolidated report of the information required by this section for all insurers comprising the holding company system.
(e) For the purposes of this section, article, “policy of residential property insurance” has the meaning described in subdivision (a) of Section 10087.
SEC. 2.
Section 929.03 is added to the Insurance Code, immediately following Section 929, to read:929.03.
(a) On or before March 1, 2021, and every year thereafter, an admitted insurer with written California premiums totaling five million dollars ($5,000,000) or more shall submit a report to the commissioner for the prior year on policies of residential property insurance written on risks located in California.(b) The commissioner may specify, by bulletin, the manner of submission and format of the report required pursuant to subdivision (a). The report shall include the following information reported by ZIP code:
(1) The number of new policies.
(2) The number of policies renewed.
(3) The number of policies nonrenewed by the insurer.
(4) The number of policies nonrenewed by the policyholder.
SEC. 3.
Section 929.1 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:929.1.
Information submitted to the commissioner, as required by SectionSEC. 4.
Section 929.25 is added to the Insurance Code, immediately following Section 929.2, to read:929.25.
(a) On or before May 15, 2021, and every year thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the committees of the Senate and Assembly having jurisdiction over insurance a report on policy renewal and nonrenewals compiled from the data collected pursuant to Section 929.03. The commissioner shall post the report on the department’s internet website.(b) The report shall be updated every year to reflect new data submitted by insurers.
(c) The report shall separately provide information each calendar year.
(d) The report shall provide results for each county and as a statewide
aggregate.
SEC. 5.
Section 929.3 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:929.3.
(a) Failure to submit a report pursuant to Section 929 or 929.03 shall subject an admitted insurer to a civil penalty to be fixed by the commissioner, not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) or, if the act was willful, a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).(b) An insurer may request, and the commissioner may grant, a 30-day extension, if needed due to unintended or unforeseen delays, to submit the a report. If the insurer fails to submit the
a report within 30 days of a written notice by the commissioner regarding the failure to submit the report, the commissioner may find that the failure to submit the report was willful and increase the civil penalty to an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(c) The penalty imposed by this section shall be enforced by the commissioner and may be appealed by means of a remedy provided by Section 12940, or by Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. This subdivision is the sole means for enforcement of this section.
SEC. 6.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 3 of this act, which amends Section 929.1 of the Insurance Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:In order to protect proprietary insurer information, it is necessary for information reported to the Insurance Commissioner by insurers pursuant to Section 3 of this act to remain confidential.
