Bill Text: FL S1136 | 2015 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Title Insurance

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-23 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 927 (Ch. 2015-154) [S1136 Detail]

Download: Florida-2015-S1136-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2015                             CS for SB 1136
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Banking and Insurance; and Senator Hukill
       
       
       
       
       
       597-02402-15                                          20151136c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to title insurance; amending s.
    3         631.401, F.S.; revising procedures and requirements
    4         relating to the recovery of assessments from title
    5         insurers through surcharges assessed on policies;
    6         revising provisions relating to surcharges collected
    7         in excess of the assessments paid by title insurers;
    8         revising requirements for the payment of excess
    9         surcharges to the Insurance Regulatory Trust Fund;
   10         authorizing the Financial Services Commission and the
   11         Department of Financial Services to adopt rules for
   12         certain purposes; providing an effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Section 631.401, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   17  read:
   18         631.401 Recovery of assessments and assumed policy
   19  obligations.—
   20         (1) Upon the making of any assessment allowed by s.
   21  631.400, the office shall order a surcharge or, if a surcharge
   22  is currently in effect, an additional surcharge amount on each
   23  title insurance policy thereafter issued insuring an interest in
   24  real property in this state. The office shall set the per
   25  transaction surcharge at an amount estimated to generate
   26  sufficient funds to recover the amount assessed over a period of
   27  not more than 7 years. The amount of the surcharge ordered under
   28  this section may not exceed $25 per transaction for each
   29  impaired title insurer. If additional surcharges are occasioned
   30  by additional title insurers becoming impaired, the office shall
   31  order an increase in the amount of the surcharge to reflect the
   32  aggregate surcharge.
   33         (2) The party responsible for the payment of title
   34  insurance premium, unless otherwise agreed between the parties,
   35  shall be responsible for the payment of the surcharge. No
   36  surcharge will be due or owing as to any policy of title
   37  insurance subject to issued at the simultaneous issue premium
   38  rate. For all other purposes, The surcharge will be considered a
   39  governmental assessment to be separately stated on any
   40  settlement statement as a surcharge. The surcharge is not
   41  premium and is not subject to premium tax or reserve
   42  requirements under chapter 625.
   43         (3) Title insurers doing business in this state which are
   44  not subject to a given assessment writing no premiums in the
   45  prior calendar year shall collect the same per transaction
   46  surcharge as provided by this section. Such surcharge collected
   47  shall be paid to the receiver within 60 days after receipt to be
   48  maintained in an excess surcharge account and used only as
   49  provided in subsection (6) from the title agent or agency.
   50         (4) Each title insurance agent, agency, or direct title
   51  operation shall collect the surcharge as to each title insurance
   52  policy written and remit those surcharges along with the
   53  policies and premiums within 60 days to the title insurer on
   54  which whom the policy was written.
   55         (5) A title insurer may not retain more in surcharges for
   56  an ordered assessment than the amount of aggregate assessments
   57  paid by the assessment that title insurer paid. Any surcharges
   58  collected in excess of the amount of the aggregate assessments
   59  paid by a title insurer shall be paid as provided in subsection
   60  (6). As used in this section, the term “aggregate assessments”
   61  means the total amount of assessments ordered by the office
   62  under s. 631.400.
   63  (6) Each title insurer collecting surcharges shall promptly
   64  notify the office when it has collected surcharges equal to the
   65  amount of the aggregate assessments assessment paid pursuant to
   66  s. 631.400. The office shall notify all companies, including
   67  those collecting surcharges as required by subsection (3), to
   68  cease collecting surcharges when notified that all aggregate
   69  assessments have been recovered by the title insurers that wrote
   70  policies in the state during the previous calendar year. Any
   71  surcharges collected by a title insurer in excess of the total
   72  amount it was assessed for aggregate assessments shall be paid
   73  quarterly to the receiver to be maintained in the excess
   74  surcharge account by the receiver. Excess surcharges may be used
   75  by the receiver for the following purposes only:
   76         (a) To reduce or eliminate the amount of a future
   77  assessment for a title insurer that is in receivership at the
   78  time of the assessment or that later enters receivership; or
   79         (b) To reduce the amount of time that consumers in the
   80  state are subject to surcharges by transferring excess
   81  surcharges to title insurers that have not fully collected
   82  surcharges equal to the amount of the aggregate assessments paid
   83  by title insurers pursuant to s. 631.400.
   84         (7) In conjunction with the filing of each quarterly
   85  financial statement, each title insurer shall provide the office
   86  with an accounting of assessments paid and surcharges collected
   87  during the period.
   88         (8) If the receiver has no active title insurer
   89  receiverships for 12 consecutive months or if there have been no
   90  payable claims against any title insurer receivership for 60
   91  consecutive months, all excess surcharges held by the receiver
   92  under this section Any surcharges collected in excess of the
   93  amount assessed shall be paid into to the Insurance Regulatory
   94  Trust Fund.
   95         (9) The Financial Services Commission may adopt rules
   96  specifying procedures for the collection, use, and transfer of
   97  surcharges, including excess surcharges.
   98         (10) The department may adopt rules specifying procedures
   99  for claiming, distributing, and using excess surcharge account
  100  funds held by the receiver under this section and for the
  101  purposes specified in subsection (6).
  102         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.