GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
H	1
HOUSE BILL 1123
     

 
Short Title:	Change Name of N.C. Rate Bureau.	()	
Sponsors:	Representative Allred.	
Referred to:	Insurance.	
April 12, 2001

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to change the name of the north carolina rate bureau to the insurance industry office in order to end the public misconception that the bureau is an agency of the state.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Except for those sections of the General Statutes amended in this act, the Revisor of Statutes shall substitute the term "Insurance Industry Office" for the terms "North Carolina Rate Bureau" everywhere that term appears in the General Statutes and shall substitute the term "Insurance Industry Office" for the term "Rate Bureau" everywhere that term appears in G.S. 20‑279.21, G.S. 95‑250, and Chapter 58 of the General Statutes. In addition, the Revisor of Statutes shall substitute the term "Office" for the term "Bureau" and the term "Office's" for the term "Bureau's" everywhere those term appears in Chapter 58 of the General Statutes and G.S. 20‑279.21.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 58‑2‑190 reads as rewritten:
"§ 58‑2‑190.  Commissioner may require special reports.
The Commissioner may also address to any authorized insurer, rating organization, advisory organization, joint underwriting or joint reinsurance organization, the Insurance Industry Office, or the North Carolina Motor Vehicle Reinsurance Facility, or its officers any inquiry in relation to its transactions or condition or any matter connected therewith. Every corporation or person so addressed shall reply in writing to such inquiry promptly and truthfully, and such reply shall be verified, if required by the Commissioner, by such individual, or by such officer or officers of a corporation, as he shall designate."
SECTION 3.  The title of Article 36 of Chapter 58 of the General Statues reads as rewritten:
"Article 36.
Insurance Industry Office."
SECTION 4.  G.S. 58‑36‑1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 58‑36‑1. Insurance Industry Office created.
There is hereby created an Office to be known as the 'Insurance Industry Office' with the following objects and functions:
(1)	To assume the functions formerly performed by the North Carolina Rate Bureau, the North Carolina Fire Insurance Rating Bureau, the North Carolina Automobile Rate Administrative Office, and the Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of North Carolina, with regard to the promulgation of rates, for insurance against loss to residential real property with not more than four housing units located in this State and any contents thereof and valuable interest therein and other insurance coverages written in connection with the sale of such property insurance; for theft of and physical damage to private passenger (nonfleet) motor vehicles as the same are defined under Article 40 of this Chapter; for liability insurance for such motor vehicles, automobile medical payments insurance, uninsured motorists coverage and other insurance coverages written in connection with the sale of such liability insurance; and for workers' compensation and employers' liability insurance written in connection therewith except for insurance excluded from the Office's jurisdiction in G.S. 58‑36‑1(3).
(2)	The Office shall provide reasonable means to be approved by the Commissioner whereby any person affected by a rate or loss costs made by it may be heard in person or by the person's authorized representative before the governing committee or other proper executive of the Office.
(3)	The Office shall promulgate and propose rates for insurance against loss to residential real property with not more than four housing units located in this State and any contents thereof or valuable interest therein and other insurance coverages written in connection with the sale of such property insurance; for insurance against theft of or physical damage to nonfleet private passenger motor vehicles; for liability insurance for such motor vehicles, automobile medical payments insurance, uninsured and underinsured motorists coverage and other insurance coverages written in connection with the sale of such liability insurance; and, as provided in G.S. 58‑36‑100, for loss costs and residual market rate filings for workers' compensation and employers' liability insurance written in connection therewith. This subdivision does not apply to motor vehicles operated under certificates of authority from the Utilities Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, or their successor agencies, where insurance or other proof of financial responsibility is required by law or by regulations specifically applicable to such certificated vehicles. The Office shall have no jurisdiction over excess workers' compensation insurance for employers qualifying as self‑insurers as provided in Article 47 of this Chapter or Article 5 of Chapter 97 of the General Statutes; nor shall the Office's jurisdiction include farm buildings, farm dwellings and their appurtenant structures, farm personal property or other coverages written in connection with farm real or personal property; travel or camper trailers designed to be pulled by private passenger motor vehicles, unless insured under policies covering nonfleet private passenger motor vehicles; mechanical breakdown insurance covering nonfleet private passenger motor vehicles and other incidental coverages written in connection with this insurance, including emergency road service assistance, trip interruption reimbursement, rental car reimbursement, and tire coverage; residential real and personal property insured in multiple line insurance policies covering business activities as the primary insurable interest; and marine, general liability, burglary and theft, glass, and animal collision insurance, except when such coverages are written as an integral part of a multiple line insurance policy for which there is an indivisible premium.
(4)	Agreements may be made between or among members with respect to equitable apportionment among them of insurance which may be afforded applicants who are in good faith entitled to but who are unable to procure such insurance through ordinary methods. The members may agree between or among themselves on the use of reasonable rate modifications for such insurance, agreements, and rate modifications to be subject to the approval of the Commissioner.
(5)	a.	It is the duty of every insurer that writes workers' compensation insurance in this State and is a member of the Office, as defined in this section and G.S. 58‑36‑5 to insure and accept any workers' compensation insurance risk that has been certified to be 'difficult to place' by any fire and casualty insurance agent who is licensed in this State. When any such risk is called to the attention of the Office by receipt of an application with an estimated or deposit premium payment and it appears that the risk is in good faith entitled to such coverage, the Office will bind coverage for 30 days and will designate a member who must issue a standard workers' compensation policy of insurance that contains the usual and customary provisions found in those policies. Multiple coordinated policies, as defined by the Office and approved by the Commissioner, may be used for the issuance of coverage under this subdivision for risks involved in employee leasing arrangements. Coverage will be bound at 12:01 A.M. on the first day following the postmark time and date on the envelope in which the application is mailed including the estimated annual or deposit premium, or the expiration of existing coverage, whichever is later. If there should be no postmark, coverage will be effective 12:01 A.M. on the date of receipt by the Office unless a later date is requested. Those applications hand delivered to the Office will be effective as of 12:01 A.M. of the date following receipt by the Office unless a later date is requested. The Office will make and adopt such rules as are necessary to carry this section into effect, subject to final approval of the Commissioner. As a prerequisite to the transaction of workers' compensation insurance in this State, every member of the Office that writes such insurance must file with the Office written authority permitting the Office to act in its behalf, as provided in this section, and an agreement to accept risks that are assigned to the member by the Office, as provided in this section.
b.	The Office shall maintain a compendium of employers refused voluntary coverage, which shall be made available by the Office to all insurers, licensed agents, and self‑insureds' administrators doing business in this State. It shall be stored and indexed to allow access to information by industry, primary classifications of employees, geography, experience modification, and in any other manner the Office determines is commercially useful to facilitate voluntary coverage of listed employers. The Office shall be immune from civil liability for erroneous information released by the Office pursuant to this section, provided that the Office acted in good faith and without malicious or willful intent to harm in releasing the erroneous information.
c.	Failure or refusal by any assigned employer risk to make full disclosure to the Office, servicing carrier, or insurer writing a policy of information regarding the employer's true ownership, change of ownership, operations, or payroll, or any other failure to disclose fully any records pertaining to workers' compensation insurance shall be sufficient grounds for the termination of the policy of that employer.
(6)	The Office shall maintain and furnish to the Commissioner on an annual basis the statistics on earnings derived by member companies from the investment of unearned premium, loss, and loss expense reserves on nonfleet private passenger motor vehicle insurance policies written in this State. Whenever the Office proposes rates under this Article, it shall prepare a separate exhibit for the experience years in question showing the combined earnings realized from the investment of such reserves on policies written in this State. The amount of earnings may in an equitable manner be included in the ratemaking formula to arrive at a fair and equitable rate. The Commissioner may require further information as to such earnings and may require calculations of the Office bearing on such earnings.
(7)	Member companies shall furnish, upon request of any person carrying nonfleet private passenger motor vehicle insurance in the State upon whose risk a rate has been promulgated, information as to rating, including the method of calculation."
SECTION 5.  G.S. 58‑47‑110(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	As used in this section:
	(2)	'Expenses' means that portion of a premium rate attributable to acquisition, field supervision, collection expenses, and general expenses, as determined by the group.
(3)	'Multiplier' means a group's determination of the expenses, other than loss expense and loss adjustment expense, associated with writing workers' compensation and employers' liability insurance, which shall be expressed as a single nonintegral number to be applied equally and uniformly to the prospective loss costs approved by the Commissioner in making rates for each classification of risks utilized by that group.
(3a)	'Office' means the Insurance Industry Office created in Article 36 of this Chapter.
(4)	'Prospective loss costs' means that portion of a rate that does not include provisions for expenses (other than loss adjustment expenses) or profit and that is based on historical aggregate losses and loss adjustment expenses adjusted through development to their ultimate value and forecasted through trending to a future point in time.
(5)	'Supplementary rating information' means any manual or plan of rates, classification, rating schedule, minimum premium, policy fee, rating rule, rate‑related underwriting rule, experience rating plan, statistical plan, and any other similar information needed to determine the applicable rate in effect or to be in effect."
SECTION 6.  G.S. 136‑18(24) reads as rewritten:
"(24)	The Department of Transportation is further authorized to pave driveways leading from State‑maintained roads to rural fire district firehouses which are approved by the Insurance Industry Office and to facilities of rescue squads furnishing ambulance services which are approved by the North Carolina State Association of Rescue Squads, Inc."
SECTION 7.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2001.