Bill Text: CA SB92 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Property insurance: Seismic Safety Account.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-4)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-09-11 - Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Atkins. [SB92 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB92-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 92 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 12, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review
JANUARY 10, 2013
An act relating to the Budget Act of 2013.
An act to add Section 12975.9 to the Insurance Code, relating to
property in surance, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 92, as amended, Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review.
Budget Act of 2013. Property insurance: Seismic
Safety Account.
Existing law provides for the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety
Commission in the State and Consumer Services Agency, which consists
of 15 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
The commission is responsible for certain aspects of earthquake
hazard mitigation, including, but not limited to, setting goals and
priorities in the public and private sectors, encouraging research,
and helping to coordinate the earthquake safety activities of
government at all levels.
This bill would create the Seismic Safety Account as a special
account within the Insurance Fund with the funds to be distributed,
upon appropriation, to the commission for the support of the
commission and to the Department of Insurance for the actual
administrative costs incurred in collecting the assessments. In order
to fund the account, the bill would impose an assessment on each
person who owns real property, commercial or residential, that is
covered by a property insurance policy. The bill would require the
department to calculate the annual assessment, as specified, not to
exceed $0.15 per property exposure. The insurer, upon receipt of an
invoice from the department, would be required to transmit payment to
the department for deposit into the account, and to collect the
assessment from the insured, unless the insurer elects to pay the
assessment on the insured's behalf. The bill would also make the
insurer responsible for any collected assessment that was not
remitted to the department, and the department would be authorized to
charge a late fee of 1.5%, per month, of the balance due compounded
monthly, for any payment not paid within 45 days of the invoice date.
The insurer would not be obligated to take legal action to enforce
the collection of the assessment. The bill would require the
department to report by December 1 of each year to the Legislature,
the commission, and the Department of Finance on the assessment
calculation methodology employed.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2013.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 12975.9 is added to the
Insurance Code , to read:
12975.9. (a) The Seismic Safety Account is hereby created as a
special account within the Insurance Fund. Moneys in the account are
available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of
this section to fund the department and the Alfred E. Alquist
Seismic Safety Commission.
(b) There is hereby imposed an assessment on each person who owns
real property, commercial or residential, that is insured by a
property insurance policy. The department shall calculate the annual
assessment to be charged to each commercial and residential earned
property exposure. The assessment shall be set annually every August
1, beginning August 1, 2014, for all commercial and residential
earned property exposures reported during the previous calendar year.
The annual assessment shall be set at fifteen cents ($0.15) per
earned property exposure for the first three years of the
implementation of this section. Each year thereafter, the annual
assessment shall be based upon the number of earned property
exposures from both commercial and residential insurance policies,
the amount required for the support of the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic
Safety Commission, the actual collection and administrative costs of
the department, and the maintenance of an adequate reserve, but shall
not exceed fifteen cents ($0.15) per earned property exposure.
(c) The insurer, upon receipt of an invoice from the department,
shall transmit payment to the department for deposit into the Seismic
Safety Account. The insurer shall recover the assessment from the
insured, unless the insurer elects to pay the assessment on the
insured's behalf. The insurer may provide a description of the
assessment to the insured as part of its billing statement. Any
deficiency or excess in the amount collected in relation to the
appropriation authority for the commission and the department shall
be accounted for in the subsequent annual fee calculation. Any
balance remaining in the Seismic Safety Account at the end of each
fiscal year shall be retained in the account and carried forward to
the next fiscal year.
(d) Funds in the Seismic Safety Account shall be distributed, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic
Safety Commission for the support of the commission and to the
department for the actual administrative costs incurred in collecting
the assessments.
(e) Any assessment collected from an insured that has not been
remitted to the department shall be a debt owed to the state by the
insurer. This part does not impose any obligation upon an insurer to
take any legal action to enforce the collection of the assessment
imposed by this section.
(f) Payment of the assessment shall be considered delinquent if
not paid within 45 days of the invoice date. The department is
authorized to charge a late fee of 1.5 percent per month of the
balance due, compounded monthly, for any amount not paid within this
period in accordance with Section 12995.
(g) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code,
the department shall report by December 1 of each year, beginning on
December 1, 2014, to the Legislature, the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic
Safety Commission, and the Department of Finance on the assessment
calculation methodology employed.
(2) A report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this
subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to protect the public from the continuing threat of loss
of life and property damage due to earthquakes, it is necessary that
this act take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2013.
