Senate Bill No. 324
(By Senators Minard and Helmick)
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[Introduced March 9, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee
on Finance.]
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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
fire and casualty insurance; and imposing a fire protection
surcharge on fire insurance and casualty insurance policies
to provide additional revenue to volunteer fire departments,
certain retired teachers and the teachers retirement reserve
fund.
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 fire and casualty 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 insurance and casualty insurance policy issued by an insurer
subject to the additional fire and casualty insurance premium tax
pursuant to section fourteen-d of this chapter, a policy
surcharge equal to one percent of gross direct premium paid by
the policyholder for each such policy, less premiums returned to
policyholders because of cancellation, mid-term endorsement
changes or audit changes on those policies. For purposes of this
section, casualty 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 theyare 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 disbursementsauthorized 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 of
each 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 clarify the
application of this section to admitted insurers and to permit
the insurers to return collected policy surcharge amounts to
policyholders when related premiums are returned to policyholders
due to cancellation of the policy or audit changes and mid-term
endorsements that result in a reduction and return of premium.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.