Senate Bill No. 238
(By Senators Jenkins and Plymale)
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[Introduced January 20, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §33-3-33 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to increasing the surcharge on fire
and casualty insurance by one percent to benefit municipal
police and firefighter retirement funds.
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; special fund created; allocation of
proceeds; effective date.
(a) For the purpose of providing additional revenue for
volunteer fire departments, part-volunteer fire departments,
municipal firefighter and police officer retirement funds, certain retired teachers and the teachers retirement reserve fund, there
is hereby authorized and imposed on and after the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, 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 two percent of the taxable
premium for each such policy. 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 excess lines
coverage, by the resident excess lines broker, 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 the first day of March
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 one hundred dollars 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) One
half quarter of 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
the first day of the months of January, April, July and October to
each volunteer fire company or department on an equal share basis
by the state treasurer.
(1) Before each distribution date, 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.
(2) Fifty percent of the moneys collected shall be earmarked
for distribution on an equal share basis to all Class I and Class II municipalities in the state to be used as a source of additional
funding for the municipalities police and firefighter pension
funds. The commissioner shall first disburse the money received
from the surcharge into a special account in the state treasury,
designated the "municipal police and firefighter pension account."
The net proceeds of this portion of the tax, and the interest
thereon, after appropriation by the Legislature, shall be
distributed quarterly on the first day of the months of January,
April, July and October to each Class I and Class II municipality
on an equal share basis by the state treasurer.
(2) (3) The remaining
fifty twenty-five percent of the moneys
collected shall be transferred to the teachers retirement system to
be disbursed according to the provisions of sections twenty-six-j,
twenty-six-k and twenty-six-l, article seven-a, chapter eighteen of
this code. Any balance remaining after the disbursements
authorized by this subdivision have been paid shall be paid by the
teachers retirement system into the teachers retirement system
reserve fund.
(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 surcharge
on fire and casualty insurance by one percent to benefit municipal
police and firefighters retirement funds.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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