H. B. 3081
(By Delegates Beane, Webb and G. White)
[Introduced March 29, 2001; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section fourteen-b, article three,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to credits against
premium taxes for investment in West Virginia securities by
insurers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fourteen-b, 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.
§33-3-14b. Credits against premium tax for investment in West
Virginia securities.
(a) If the annual statement of any insurance company insurer covering a calendar year shows it to have investments at the close
of said the year in West Virginia securities, as hereinafter
defined, of as much as at least twenty-five percent of its admitted
assets, it shall be is entitled to a credit against the premium tax
levied by section sections fourteen and fourteen-a of this article
and the premium tax levied by section fourteen-a of this article in
an amount equal to one hundred percent of such the tax for such the
calendar year: Provided, That the insurance company insurer proves
to the satisfaction of the commissioner that it employs less than
twenty full-time employees, has net written gross direct premiums
in this state of less than ten million dollars and provides derives
a minimum of fifty percent of its net written gross direct premiums
from insurance provided to under-served and high risk areas of West
Virginia that are both underserved and high risk.
West Virginia securities, as used in this section, shall mean
real estate situate in this state; bonds or interest-bearing notes
or obligations of this state; bonds or interest-bearing notes or
obligations of any county, district, school district or independent
school district, municipality or any other political subdivision of
this state.
(b) As used in this section:
(1) "Full-time employees" means all elected officers, all
full-time employees, all part-time employees counted as full-time
employee equivalents and all full and part-time equivalent
employees providing any type of service by contract or by any other
arrangement;
(2) "High risk areas" means those counties of the state in
which the ratio of the insurer's incurred losses to the insurer's
earned premium is greater than seventy-five percent for the year of
the filing;
(3) "Underserved areas" means those counties of the state for
which the insurer demonstrates to the satisfaction of the
commissioner that consumers in that county have an inadequate
choice of insurance providers;
(4) "West Virginia securities" means real estate situate in
this state; bonds or interest-bearing notes or obligations of this
state; and bonds or interest-bearing notes or obligations of any
county, district, school district or independent school district,
municipality or any other political subdivision of this state.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the
present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be
added.