FISCAL
NOTE
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Banking and Insurance then Finance.
A BILL to amend and
reenact §33-3-33 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
the surcharge on fire and casualty insurance policies; providing that the
surcharge be increased to one percent; and providing that the surcharge be used
solely for volunteer fire departments.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §33-3-33 of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. LICENSING, FEES AND TAXATION OF INSURERS.
§33-3-33. Surcharge on fire and casualty insurance
policies to benefit volunteer and part-volunteer fire departments; Public
Employees Insurance Agency and municipal pension plans; special fund
created; allocation of proceeds; effective date.
(a) (1) For the purpose
of providing additional revenue for volunteer fire departments, part-volunteer fire
departments, and certain retired teachers and the teachers retirement reserve
fund, there is hereby authorized and imposed on and after July 1, 1992, on the
policyholder of any fire insurance policy or casualty insurance policy issued
by any insurer, authorized or unauthorized, or by any risk retention group, a
policy surcharge equal to one percent of the taxable premium for each such
policy. After June 30, 2005, the
surcharge shall be imposed as specified in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this
subsection
(2) After June 30, 2005,
through December 31, 2005, for the purpose of providing additional revenue for
volunteer fire departments, part-volunteer fire departments and to provide
additional revenue to the Public Employees Insurance Agency and municipal pension
plans, there is hereby authorized and imposed on and after July 1, 2005, on the
policyholder of any fire insurance policy or casualty insurance policy issued
by any insurer, authorized or unauthorized, or by any risk retention group, a
policy surcharge equal to one percent of the taxable premium for each such
policy
(3) After December 31,
2005 For the purpose of providing
additional revenue for volunteer fire departments and part-volunteer fire
departments, there is hereby authorized and imposed on the policyholder of any
fire insurance policy or casualty insurance policy issued by any insurer,
authorized or unauthorized, or by any risk retention group, a policy surcharge
equal to fifty-five one hundredths of one percent of the taxable premium
for each such policy.
(4) (2) For purposes of this section, casualty
insurance may not include insurance on the life of a debtor pursuant to or in
connection with a specific loan or other credit transaction or insurance on a
debtor to provide indemnity for payments becoming due on a specific loan or
other credit transaction while the debtor is disabled as defined in the
policy. The policy surcharge may not be
subject to premium taxes, agent commissions or any other assessment against
premiums.
(b) The policy surcharge
shall be collected and remitted to the commissioner by the insurer, or in the
case of surplus lines coverage, by the surplus lines licensee, or if the policy
is issued by a risk retention group, by the risk retention group. The amount required to be collected under
this section shall be remitted to the commissioner on a quarterly basis on or
before the twenty-fifth day of the month succeeding the end of the quarter in
which they are collected, except for the fourth quarter for which the surcharge
shall be remitted on or before March 1 of the succeeding year.
(c) Any person failing or
refusing to collect and remit to the commissioner any policy surcharge and
whose surcharge payments are not postmarked by the due dates for quarterly
filing is liable for a civil penalty of up to $100 for each day of delinquency,
to be assessed by the commissioner. The
commissioner may suspend the insurer, broker or risk retention group until all
surcharge payments and penalties are remitted in full to the commissioner.
(d)(1) All money from the
policy surcharge shall be collected by the commissioner who shall disburse the
money received from the surcharge into a special account in the State Treasury,
designated the Fire Protection Fund. The
net proceeds of this portion of the tax and the interest thereon, after
appropriation by the Legislature, shall be distributed quarterly on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1, to
each volunteer fire company or department on an equal share basis by the State
Treasurer. After June 30, 2005, the
money received from the surcharge shall be distributed as specified in
subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection
(2)(A) After June 30,
2005, through December 31, 2005, all money from the policy surcharge shall be
collected by the Commissioner who shall disburse one half of the money received
from the surcharge into the Fire Protection Fund for distribution as provided
in subdivision (1) of this subsection
(B) The remaining
portion of moneys collected shall be transferred into the fund in the State
Treasury of the Public Employees Insurance Agency into which are deposited the
proportionate shares made by agencies of this state of the Public Employees
Insurance Agency costs of those agencies, until November 1, 2005. After the October 31, 2005, through December
31, 2005, the remain portion shall be transferred to the special account in the
State Treasury, known as the Municipal Pensions and Protection Fund
(3) After December 31,
2005, all money from the policy surcharge shall be collected by the
Commissioner who shall disburse all of the money received from the surcharge
into the Fire Protection Fund for distribution as provided in subdivision (1)
of this subsection
(4) (2) Before each distribution date to volunteer
fire companies or departments, the State Fire Marshal shall report to the State
Treasurer the names and addresses of all volunteer and part-volunteer fire
companies and departments within the state which meet the eligibility
requirements established in section eight-a, article fifteen, chapter eight of
this code.
(e) The allocation,
distribution and use of revenues provided in the Fire Protection Fund are
subject to the provisions of sections eight-a and eight-b, article
fifteen, chapter eight of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the
fire and casualty insurance surcharge from .55% to 1%. The bill provides that
the collected funds be distributed solely to volunteer and part-volunteer fire
departments.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.