WEST virginia legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4359

By Delegates Westfall and Porterfield
(By Request of the West Virginia Insurance Commission)

[Introduced January 15, 2020; Referred to the Committee on Banking and Insurance.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §33-6-34 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to increasing the filing fees for insurers; permitting multiple insurers to make a single filing with a fee collected from each one; defining a term; and deleting an effective date.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 6. THE INSURANCE POLICY.

§33-6-34. Fee for form, rate, and rule filing.

(a)  As used in this section, “filing” means any form filing made pursuant to §33-6-8 of this code or any rule or rate filing made in accordance with any rate filing provisions of §33-1-1 et seq. of this code.

(a) (b) A fee of $50 $100 for every form filing and $75 for every rate or rule filing shall be submitted with each filing for each insurer, irrespective of the number of forms, rules, or rates included within or affected by the filing. If a form filing or rate or rule filing is made on behalf of more than one insurer, other than a filing made by a rating organization licensed by the commissioner, pursuant to section six, article twenty of this chapter the applicable fee shall be submitted as if the filing were made by each individual insurer $100 multiplied by the number of insurers on whose behalf the filing is made. Fees submitted pursuant to this section shall may not be refunded if the form filing or rate or rule filing, for which the fee was submitted, is disapproved, in whole or in part, by the commissioner. The refiling and a resubmission of a form filing or rate or rule filing previously disapproved by the commissioner shall be considered a new filing for the purposes of the filing fee. : Provided, That Any request by the commissioner for additional information pertaining to a form filing shall not be considered a new filing for purposes of the filing fee. All fees collected pursuant to this section shall be used by the commissioner for the operation of the division offices of the Insurance Commissioner.

(b) This section as amended in the year 2002 applies to filings submitted after June 30, 2002. When there is a refiling after that date of a filing denied before July 1, 2002, the new filing fee structure applies and the fee shall be remitted when the form, rate or rule is refiled after June 30, 2002

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a uniform definition of “filing” and set a flat filing fee regarding insurance forms, rules, and rates.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.