Bill Text: IL HB4499 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Insurance Code to provide that life and accident and health policy forms and casualty, fire, and marine policy forms, including all rate-related information, shall be considered public records and subject to inspection and copying by the public immediately after submission to the Department of Insurance.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2014-12-03 - Session Sine Die [HB4499 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-HB4499-Introduced.html

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98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2013 and 2014 HB4499 Introduced , by Rep. Greg Harris SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
215 ILCS 5/143 from Ch. 73, par. 755
Amends the Illinois Insurance Code to provide that life and accident and health policy forms and casualty, fire, and marine policy forms, including all rate-related information, shall be considered public records and subject to inspection and copying by the public immediately after submission to the Department of Insurance.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning regulation.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Insurance Code is amended by
changing Section 143 as follows:
(215 ILCS 5/143) (from Ch. 73, par. 755)
Sec. 143. Policy forms.
(1) Life, accident and health. No company transacting the
kind or kinds of business enumerated in Classes 1 (a), 1 (b)
and 2 (a) of Section 4 shall issue or deliver in this State a
policy or certificate of insurance or evidence of coverage,
attach an endorsement or rider thereto, incorporate by
reference bylaws or other matter therein or use an application
blank in this State until the form and content of such policy,
certificate, evidence of coverage, endorsement, rider, bylaw
or other matter incorporated by reference or application blank
has been filed electronically with the Director, either through
the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF) or as
otherwise prescribed by the Director, and approved by the
Director. Any such endorsement or rider that unilaterally
reduces benefits and is to be attached to a policy subsequent
to the date the policy is issued must be filed with, reviewed,
and formally approved by the Director prior to the date it is

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attached to a policy issued or delivered in this State. It
shall be the duty of the Director to withhold approval of any
such policy, certificate, endorsement, rider, bylaw or other
matter incorporated by reference or application blank filed
with him if it contains provisions which encourage
misrepresentation or are unjust, unfair, inequitable,
ambiguous, misleading, inconsistent, deceptive, contrary to
law or to the public policy of this State, or contains
exceptions and conditions that unreasonably or deceptively
affect the risk purported to be assumed in the general coverage
of the policy. In all cases the Director shall approve or
disapprove any such form within 60 days after submission unless
the Director extends by not more than an additional 30 days the
period within which he shall approve or disapprove any such
form by giving written notice to the insurer of such extension
before expiration of the initial 60 days period. The Director
shall withdraw his approval of a policy, certificate, evidence
of coverage, endorsement, rider, bylaw, or other matter
incorporated by reference or application blank if he
subsequently determines that such policy, certificate,
evidence of coverage, endorsement, rider, bylaw, other matter,
or application blank is misrepresentative, unjust, unfair,
inequitable, ambiguous, misleading, inconsistent, deceptive,
contrary to law or public policy of this State, or contains
exceptions or conditions which unreasonably or deceptively
affect the risk purported to be assumed in the general coverage

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of the policy or evidence of coverage.
If a previously approved policy, certificate, evidence of
coverage, endorsement, rider, bylaw or other matter
incorporated by reference or application blank is withdrawn for
use, the Director shall serve upon the company an order of
withdrawal of use, either personally or by mail, and if by
mail, such service shall be completed if such notice be
deposited in the post office, postage prepaid, addressed to the
company's last known address specified in the records of the
Department of Insurance. The order of withdrawal of use shall
take effect 30 days from the date of mailing but shall be
stayed if within the 30-day period a written request for
hearing is filed with the Director. Such hearing shall be held
at such time and place as designated in the order given by the
Director. The hearing may be held either in the City of
Springfield, the City of Chicago or in the county where the
principal business address of the company is located. The
action of the Director in disapproving or withdrawing such form
shall be subject to judicial review under the Administrative
Review Law.
This subsection shall not apply to riders or endorsements
issued or made at the request of the individual policyholder
relating to the manner of distribution of benefits or to the
reservation of rights and benefits under his life insurance
policy.
(2) Casualty, fire, and marine. The Director shall require

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the filing of all policy forms issued or delivered by any
company transacting the kind or kinds of business enumerated in
Classes 2 (except Class 2 (a)) and 3 of Section 4 in an
electronic format either through the System for Electronic Rate
and Form Filing (SERFF) or as otherwise prescribed and approved
by the Director. In addition, he may require the filing of any
generally used riders, endorsements, certificates, application
blanks, and other matter incorporated by reference in any such
policy or contract of insurance. Companies that are members of
an organization, bureau, or association may have the same filed
for them by the organization, bureau, or association. If the
Director shall find from an examination of any such policy
form, rider, endorsement, certificate, application blank, or
other matter incorporated by reference in any such policy so
filed that it (i) violates any provision of this Code, (ii)
contains inconsistent, ambiguous, or misleading clauses, or
(iii) contains exceptions and conditions that will
unreasonably or deceptively affect the risks that are purported
to be assumed by the policy, he shall order the company or
companies issuing these forms to discontinue their use. Nothing
in this subsection shall require a company transacting the kind
or kinds of business enumerated in Classes 2 (except Class 2
(a)) and 3 of Section 4 to obtain approval of these forms
before they are issued nor in any way affect the legality of
any policy that has been issued and found to be in conflict
with this subsection, but such policies shall be subject to the

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provisions of Section 442.
(3) This Section shall not apply (i) to surety contracts or
fidelity bonds, (ii) to policies issued to an industrial
insured as defined in Section 121-2.08 except for workers'
compensation policies, nor (iii) to riders or endorsements
prepared to meet special, unusual, peculiar, or extraordinary
conditions applying to an individual risk.
(4) All policy forms referenced in subsections (1) and (2)
of this Section, including all rate-related information, shall
be considered public records and subject to inspection and
copying by the public immediately after submission to the
Department.
(Source: P.A. 97-486, eff. 1-1-12; 98-226, eff. 1-1-14.)