Bill Text: CT SB00239 | 2015 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: An Act Prohibiting Certain Exclusions From Automobile Insurance Policy Coverage.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-18 - Public Hearing 02/26 [SB00239 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2015-SB00239-Comm_Sub.html

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General Assembly		Committee Bill No. 239
January Session, 2015		LCO No. 3253
		*03253SB00239INS*
Referred to Committee on INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE
Introduced by:
(INS)

AN ACT PROHIBITING CERTAIN EXCLUSIONS FROM AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE POLICY COVERAGE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 31-293a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

If an employee or [,] in case of his or her death, his or her dependent, has a right to benefits or compensation under this chapter on account of injury or death from injury caused by the negligence or wrong of a fellow employee, such right shall be the exclusive remedy of such injured employee or dependent and no action may be brought against such fellow employee unless such wrong was wilful or malicious or the action is based on the fellow employee's negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle as defined in section 14-1. For purposes of this section, contractors' mobile equipment such as bulldozers, [powershovels] power shovels, rollers, graders or scrapers, farm machinery, cranes, diggers, forklifts, pumps, generators, air compressors, drills or other similar equipment designed for use principally off public roads are not "motor vehicles" if the claimed injury involving such equipment occurred at the worksite on or after October 1, 1983. [No insurance policy or contract shall be accepted as proof of financial responsibility of the owner and as evidence of the insuring of such person for injury to or death of persons and damage to property by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles required by chapter 246 if it excludes from coverage under such policy or contract any agent, representative or employee of such owner from such policy or contract. Any provision of such an insurance policy or contract effected after July 1, 1969, which excludes from coverage thereunder any agent, representative or employee of the owner of a motor vehicle involved in an accident with a fellow employee shall be null and void.]

Sec. 2. Section 38a-334 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(a) The Insurance Commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, with respect to minimum provisions to be included in automobile liability insurance policies issued after the effective date of such regulations and covering private passenger motor vehicles, as defined in subsection (e) of section 38a-363, motor vehicles with a commercial registration, as defined in section 14-1, motorcycles, as defined in section 14-1, motor vehicles used to transport passengers for hire, motor vehicles in livery service, as defined in section 13b-101, and vanpool vehicles, as defined in section 14-1, registered or principally garaged in this state. Such regulations shall relate to the insuring agreements, exclusions, conditions and other terms applicable to the bodily injury liability, property damage liability, medical payments and uninsured motorists coverages under such policies, shall make mandatory the inclusion of bodily injury liability, property damage liability and uninsured motorists coverages and shall include a provision that the insurer shall, upon request of the named insured, issue or arrange for the issuance of a bond [which] that shall not exceed the aggregate limit of bodily injury coverage for the purpose of obtaining release of an attachment.

(b) The commissioner, before adopting such regulations or any subsequent modifications or amendments thereof, shall consult with insurers licensed to write automobile liability insurance in this state and other interested parties. Nothing contained in such regulations or in sections 38a-334 to 38a-336a, inclusive, as amended by this act, 38a-338 and 38a-340 shall prohibit any insurer from affording broader coverage under a policy of automobile liability insurance than that required by such regulations.

(c) No automobile insurance policy shall exclude from coverage any agent, representative or employee of the owner of a motor vehicle as defined in section 14-1, where such agent, representative or employee is negligent in operating the owner's motor vehicle and is involved in an accident with another employee of the owner. Any provision of such a policy that excludes such coverage shall be null and void.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2015	31-293a
Sec. 2	October 1, 2015	38a-334

Statement of Purpose:

To prohibit automobile insurance policies from excluding coverage for an agent, representative or employee of a motor vehicle owner, where such agent, representative or employee is negligent in operating the owner's motor vehicle and is involved in an accident with another employee of the owner.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]

Co-Sponsors:

SEN. BYE, 5th Dist.; REP. BECKER, 19th Dist. REP. VERRENGIA, 20th Dist.

S.B. 239