Senate Bill No. 217
(By Senator Minard)
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[Introduced January 19, 2011; referred to the Committee on
Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §33-4-14 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing that certain
information provided by
insurance companies
to the Insurance
Commissioner is confidential and exempt from the freedom of
information disclosure requirements; providing that the
information is not subject to subpoena or discoverable in a
private civil action; and authorizing rulemaking.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §33-4-14 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§33-4-14. Financial statement filings; annual and quarterly
statements; required format; foreign insurers; agents
of the commissioner.
(a) Each licensed insurer shall annually on or before March 1,
unless the time is extended by the commissioner for good cause shown, file with the commissioner a true statement of its financial
condition, transactions and affairs as of the preceding December
31. Such statement shall be on the appropriate National
Association of Insurance Commissioners annual statement blank;
shall be prepared in accordance with the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners annual statement instructions handbook; and
shall follow the accounting practices and procedures prescribed by
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners accounting
practices and procedures manual as amended: Provided, That each
licensed insurer shall also file true statements of financial
condition on a more frequent basis if the commissioner so orders.
The commissioner shall establish the frequency, due date and form
acceptable to him or her for such filings: Provided, however, That
the statement of an alien insurer shall relate only to its
transactions and affairs in the United States unless the
commissioner requires otherwise.
(b) Each domestic insurer shall also file with the
commissioner a true quarterly statement of its financial condition,
transactions and affairs as of March 31, June 30, and September
30, of each year. Quarterly statements shall be due forty-five
days after the end of each quarter. All quarterly statements shall
be submitted on the appropriate National Association of Insurance
Commissioners quarterly statement blank; shall be prepared in
accordance with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
quarterly statement instructions; and shall follow the accounting
practices and procedures prescribed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners accounting practices and procedures manual,
as amended. The commissioner may subject any licensed insurer to
the requirements of this section whenever the commissioner deems it
necessary.
(c) The commissioner may require that all or part of the
information contained in the annual statement blank and the
quarterly statement blanks be submitted to the department in a
computer-readable form compatible with the electronic data
processing system of the department.
(d) Each domestic, foreign and alien insurer, organization or
corporation who that is subject to the requirements of this section
shall annually, on or before March 1 each year, and forty-five days
after the end of the first, second and third calendar quarters,
file with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners a
copy of its annual statement convention blank and the quarterly
statement blanks, along with such additional filings as prescribed
by the commissioner and shall pay the fee established by the
National Association of Insurance Commissioners for filing, review
or processing of the information. The information filed with the
National Association of Insurance Commissioners shall be in the
same format and scope as that required by the commissioner and
shall include the signed jurat page and any other required
information. Any amendments and addenda to the annual statement
filing and quarterly statement filings subsequently filed with the
commissioner shall also be filed with the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners.
(e) Foreign insurers that are domiciled in a state which has
a law substantially similar to subsection (a) of this section shall
be deemed in compliance with this section.
(f) In the absence of actual malice, members of the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners, their duly authorized
committees, subcommittees and task forces, their delegates,
National Association of Insurance Commissioners employees and all
others charged with the responsibility of collecting, reviewing,
analyzing and disseminating the information developed from the
filing of the annual statement convention blanks and the quarterly
statement blanks shall be acting as agents of the commissioner
under the authority of this article and shall not be subject to
civil liability for libel, slander or any other cause of action by
virtue of their collection, review, and analysis or dissemination
of the data and information collected from the filings required
hereunder.
(g) All financial analysis ratios and examination synopses
concerning insurance companies that are submitted to the department
commissioner by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
insurance regulatory information system, are confidential and may
not be disclosed by the department and all actuarial reports, work
papers and actuarial summaries submitted by insurers in conjunction
with their annual financial statements is confidential by law and
privileged. These documents are not subject to disclosure pursuant
to chapter twenty-nine-b of this code, are not subject to subpoena
and are not subject to discovery or admissible as evidence in any private civil action.
(h) The commissioner may suspend, revoke or refuse to renew
the certificate of authority of any insurer failing to file its
annual statement or the quarterly statement blanks, or any other
statement of financial condition required by this section, when due
or within any extension of time which the commissioner, for good
cause, may have granted.
(i) Any variance to the requirements of this section shall
require the express authorization of the commissioner.
(j) The commissioner shall promulgate legislative propose
rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to effectuate the
requirements of this article.
NOTE: The bill provides that certain information submitted by
insurance companies to the insurance commissioner is confidential
and exempt from the freedom of information disclosure requirements.
The bill provides those documents may not be subject to subpoena or
discoverable in a private civil action. The bill also authorizes
rulemaking.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.