H. B. 4502
(By Delegates Beane, Mahan, Hutchins,
Cann, H. White and Paxton)
[Introduced February 11, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article twenty-two,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
farmers' mutual fire insurance companies; allowing the
companies to insure property located outside of this state;
and providing minimum capital and surplus requirements for
the companies conducting insurance business outside of this
state.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article twenty-two, chapter thirty-three
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 22. FARMERS' MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES.
§33-22-8. Kinds of coverage authorized.
(a) Every such company may issue policies of insurance on
property located anywhere in this State, signed by its president
and secretary, providing insurance against:
(1) Loss or damage to dwelling houses, stores and all kinds
of buildings and household furniture, goods, merchandise and
chattels of every description, and all other property by fire,
and allied coverages, including lightning, aircraft, windstorm,
tornado, cyclone, hail, frost or snow, smoke, weather or climatic
conditions, including excess or deficiency of moisture, flood,
rain or drought, business interruptions, riot attending a strike
or civil commotion, riot, vehicle and by explosion whether fire
ensues or not;
(2) Loss or damage by insects or disease to farm crops or
products and loss of rental value of land used in producing such
crops or products;
(3) Loss or damage by water or other fluid to any goods or
premises arising from the breakage or leakage of sprinklers,
pumps or other apparatus erected for extinguishing fires, or of
other conduits or containers, or by water entering through leaks
or openings in buildings and of water pipes, and against accidental injury to such sprinklers, pumps, apparatus, conduits,
containers or water pipes;
(4) Loss or damage to domestic farm animals by dogs or wild
animals.
(b) The commissioner may, for good cause shown or on
application of the company, limit the license of a company to
make insurance to any one or more of the perils or coverages set
forth in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) In addition any such company may apply to the
commissioner for an extension of its license, and upon complying
with reasonable standards established by the commissioner to
assure the solvency of such company and the protection of its
policyholders, may in the discretion of the commissioner be
granted an extension of its license to permit such company to
issue policies of insurance on risks located in this State
insuring against one or more of the following:
(1) Legal liability for the death, injury, or disability of
any human being, or for damage to property, excluding liability
resulting from the ownership, maintenance, or use of vehicles or
aircraft; and provisions for medical, hospital, surgical and
disability benefits to injured persons and funeral and death benefits to dependents, beneficiaries or personal representatives
of persons killed, irrespective of legal liability of the
insured, when issued as an incidental coverage with or
supplemental to such the liability coverage.
(2) Loss or damage to property by burglary, theft, larceny,
robbery, vandalism, malicious mischief, or wrongful conversion,
or any attempt at any of the foregoing.
(3) Personal property floater insurance.
(d) A company insuring property located outside this state
must meet the capital and surplus requirements of section five-b,
article three of this chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the
Commissioner of Insurance to permit a farmer's mutual company to
insure property located outside of West Virginia and to establish
capital and surplus requirements for such companies.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.