Senate Bill No. 330

(By Senators Helmick and Ross)

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[Introduced February 8, 1996;

referred to the Committee on Banking and Insurance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article six, chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to standard provisions in insurance policies.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article six, 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 6. THE INSURANCE POLICY.

§33-6-10. Standard provisions.
(a) Insurance contracts shall contain such standard provisions as are required by the applicable provisions of this chapter pertaining to contracts of particular kinds of insurance. The commissioner may waive the required use of a particular standard provision in a particular insurance policy form, if he finds such provision unnecessary for the protection of the insured and inconsistent with the purposes of the policy, and the policy is otherwise approved by him.
(b) No policy shall contain any provision inconsistent with or contradictory to any standard provision used or required to be used, but the commissioner may approve any substitute provision which is, in his opinion, not less favorable in any particular to the insured or beneficiary than the standard provisions or optional standard provisions, otherwise required. This section shall not apply to the standard fire insurance policy.
(c) On or after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, the insurer shall provide to all prospective purchasers of life insurance policies with a face value of twenty-five thousand dollars or less, a notice to such prospective policyholder upon a form prescribed by the commissioner: Provided, That this subsection does not apply to mass market life insurance products as defined in section thirty-five of this article, or to life insurance policies used exclusively to fund preneed burial contracts under article fourteen, chapter forty-seven of this code.




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require insurance companies to provide a notice on a form prescribed by the commissioner to all prospective policyholders of life insurance policies with a face value of twenty-five thousand dollars or less.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.