H. B. 2765
(By Delegates Hendricks and Dempsey)
[Introduced March 29, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-three, article three,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
insurance policies generally; limiting the surcharge on
insurance policies to benefit volunteer and part volunteer
fire departments and the teachers retirement system to
homeowner property insurance policies only.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-three, article three, chapter thirty-
three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. LICENSING, FEES AND TAXATION OF INSURERS.
§33-3-33. Surcharge on homeowner's property 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 and part volunteer fire departments, 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 and casualty property insurance policy as described and
limited under the provisions of section two, article seventeen-a
of this chapter, a policy surcharge equal to one percent of gross
direct premium paid by the policyholder for each such policy.
For purposes of this section, casualty property insurance shall
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 shall not be subject to premium taxes, agent
commissions or any other assessment against premiums.
The policy surcharge shall be collected and remitted by the
insurer to the commissioner on forms prescribed by the
commissioner on a quarterly basis and are due on 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 due and payable on or before the first day of
March of the succeeding year. All forms required by the
commissioner shall be submitted under the oath of the president
and secretary of the insurer.
Any insurer 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 until all surcharge payments
and penalties, should any penalty be imposed, are remitted in
full to the commissioner.
All money from the policy surcharge shall be collected by
the commissioner and he or she shall disburse the money received
from the surcharge as follows:
(1) Fifty percent of the moneys collected shall be paid into
a special account in the state treasury, designated the fire
protection fund. The net proceeds of this portion of the tax
after appropriation by the Legislature shall be distributed in
accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section.
(2) The remaining fifty 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.
(b) Before the first day of September, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three, and before the first day of September ofeach calendar year thereafter, the state treasurer shall allocate
and authorize for distribution the revenues in the fire
protection fund that were collected during the preceding calendar
year, and the interest earned thereon.
(c) Each volunteer fire company or department shall receive
on an equal share basis the revenues allocated for volunteer and
part volunteer fire companies and departments under subdivision
(1), subsection (a) of this section.
(d) 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 limit the surcharge on
insurance policies to benefit volunteer and part volunteer fire
departments and the teachers retirement system to homeowner
property insurance policies only.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.