Senate Bill No. 709
(By Senators Kessler, Hunter, Minard, Chafin, Bowman, Edgell,
Dempsey, White, Bailey, Barnes, Unger, Fanning, Plymale, Foster,
Sharpe, Love and Jenkins)
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Introduced March 21, 2005; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §33-2-15b and §33-2-19 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to authorizing
certain information to be provided to the Legislature by the
Insurance Commissioner.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §33-2-15b and §33-2-19
of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. INSURANCE COMMISSIONER.
§33-2-15b. Reports to the Legislature.
(a) By the first of February, two thousand five, the
Commissioner shall submit to the Legislature a report on third
party causes of action;
(b) The report shall contain the following information:
(1) The legal history of the creation of a third party causes
of action brought pursuant to Unfair Trade Practices Act as
codified in article eleven of this chapter;
(2) An analysis of the impact of third party causes of action
upon insurance rates and the availability of insurance in this
state;
(3) A summary of the types of data which the Commissioner
utilized in preparing the analysis: Provided, That the
Commissioner will not disclose information which is otherwise
confidential: Provided, however, That if the Commissioner is
unable to obtain data which he or she considers necessary to
preparing a full analysis, the Commissioner shall state in the
report:
(A) The reasons that he or she was not able to obtain the
data;
(B) Recommendations or proposed legislation for facilitating
the collection of necessary data and protecting proprietary
information;
(4) Information on what other states have this cause of
action;
(5) Based upon the findings of the Commissioner, and if the
findings so suggest, proposed legislation to address any reforms
needed for third party claims under the Unfair Trade Practices Act;
(c) For purpose of preparing the report, the Commissioner may request from companies authorized to conduct business in this state
any information that he or she believes is necessary to determine
the economic effect of third-party lawsuits on insurance premiums.
The companies shall not be required to provide the information.
Any information which the company agrees to provide, shall be
considered confidential by law and privileged, is exempt from
disclosure pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-b of this code, is not
open to public inspection, is not subject to subpoena, and is not
subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any criminal,
private civil or administrative action and is not subject to
production pursuant to court order. Notwithstanding any other
provisions in this section, while the Commissioner is to provide
his or her general conclusions based upon the review of the data,
the Commissioner is not to disclose the information in a manner so
as to violate the confidentiality provisions of this section:
Provided, That the information obtained by the Commissioner shall
be provided to the West Virginia Legislature.
§33-2-19. Confidentiality of information.
In order to assist the Commissioner in the regulation of
insurers in this state, it is the duty of the Commissioner to
maintain, as confidential, and to take all reasonable steps to
oppose any effort to secure disclosure of, any documents or
information received from the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners, federal banking agencies or insurance departments of other states which is confidential in such other jurisdictions. It
is within the power of the Commissioner to share information,
including otherwise confidential information, with the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners, the board of governors of
the federal reserve system or other appropriate federal banking
agency or insurance departments of other states and members of the
West Virginia Legislature: Provided, That such other jurisdictions
agree to maintain the same level of confidentiality as is available
under this statute and to take all reasonable steps to oppose any
effort to secure disclosure of the information. "Federal Banking
Agency" means the comptroller of the currency, the Director of the
office of thrift supervision, the board of governors of the federal
reserve system or the federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as set
forth in section three of the federal Deposit Insurance Act.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide the Legislature
with sufficient information upon which to make decisions on
proposed legislation relating to regulation of the insurance
industry.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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