Senate Bill No. 443
(By Senators Minard and Deem)
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[Introduced March 4, 2009; 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 §33-2-19 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to exempting civil investigation
records of the Insurance Commissioner from subpoena.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §33-2-19 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. INSURANCE COMMISSIONER.
§33-2-19. Confidentiality of information.
(a) Documents, materials or other information in the
possession or control of the commissioner that are obtained in an
investigation of any suspected violation of any provision of this
chapter or chapter twenty-three of this code are confidential by
law and privileged, are not subject to the provisions of chapter
twenty-nine-b of this code,
and are not open to public inspection,
are not subject to subpoena, and are not subject to discovery or
admissible in evidence in any private civil action. The
commissioner may use the documents, materials or other information
in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought as a
part of the commissioner's official duties. The commissioner may
use the documents, materials or other information if they are
required for evidence in criminal proceedings or for other action
by the state or federal government and in such context may be
discoverable only as ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction
exercising its discretion.
(b) Neither the commissioner nor any person who receives
documents, materials or other information while acting under the
authority of the commissioner may be permitted or required to
testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential
documents, materials or information subject to subsection (a) of
this section except as ordered by a court of competent
jurisdiction.
(c) In order to assist in the performance of the
commissioner's duties, the commissioner may:
(1) Share documents, materials, communications or information,
including otherwise confidential and privileged documents,
materials or information, with other state, federal and
international regulatory agencies, with the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and with regulatory and law-enforcement officials of other foreign or
domestic jurisdictions:
Provided, That the recipient agrees to
maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of the document,
material, communication or other information;
(2) Receive documents, materials, communications or
information, including otherwise confidential and privileged
documents, materials or information, from the National Association
of Insurance Commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries and
from regulatory and law-enforcement officials of other foreign or
domestic jurisdictions and shall maintain as confidential or
privileged any document, material or information received with
notice or the understanding that it is confidential or privileged
under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the source of the
document, material or information; and
(3) Enter into agreements governing sharing and use of
information consistent with this subsection.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt civil
investigation records of the Insurance Commissioner from subpoena.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.