Bill Text: WV SB302 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to surcharge on fire and casualty insurance policies
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-01-14 - To Banking and Insurance [SB302 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2019-SB302-Introduced.html
WEST virginia Legislature
2019 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 302
By Senators Hamilton, Boso, Facemire, Ihlenfeld, Jeffries, Smith, Cline, Stollings, and Baldwin
[Introduced
January 14, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on 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:
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 25th 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 §8-15-8a of this code.
(e) The allocation, distribution and use of revenues provided in the Fire Protection Fund are subject to the provisions of §8-15-8a and §8-15-8b of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the fire and casualty insurance surcharge from .55 percent to 1 percent. 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.
