Senate Bill No. 355

(By Senators Scott, Wooton, Ross, Chafin, Jackson,


Yoder, Wagner, Minear, Anderson and Boley)

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[Introduced February 9, 1996; referred to the Committee on Banking and Insurance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eighteen, article twenty-two,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to farmers' mutual fire insurance companies; and abolishing the requirement that the domestic mutual insurer be the surviving entity resulting from a merger between a farmers' mutual insurance company and a domestic mutual insurer.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section eighteen, article twenty-two, 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 22. FARMERS' MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES.
§33-22-18. Mergers and consolidations.

(a) A farmers' mutual fire insurance company shall may not merge or consolidate with any stock insurer.
(b) A farmers' mutual fire insurance company may merge or consolidate with another farmers' mutual fire insurance company or merge into with a domestic mutual insurer in the manner provided in section twenty-eight, article five of this chapter for the merger or consolidation of other types of domestic mutual insurers. In the event of a merger between a farmers' mutual fire insurance company and a domestic mutual insurer, the domestic mutual insurer shall be the surviving entity.





NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement that in the event of a merger between a farmers' mutual fire insurance company and a domestic mutual insurer, the domestic mutual insurer is to be the surviving entity.

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