Senate Bill No. 479
(By Senators Minard and Kessler)
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[Introduced February 1, 2002; 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-four, article six,
chapter thirty-three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating
generally to insurance policies; increasing the fees for form
and rate filings; imposing a fee for rule filings; and
specifying effective date.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-four, 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.
§33-6-34. Fee for form, rate and rule filing.
(a) A fee of twenty-five fifty dollars for every form filing
and twenty-five seventy-five dollars for every rate or rule filing
shall be submitted with each filing. If a form filing or rate or rule filing is made on behalf of more than one insurer, other than
a filing made by a rating organization licensed by the commissioner
pursuant to section six, article twenty of this chapter, the fee
shall be submitted as if the filing were made by each individual
insurer. Fees submitted pursuant to this section shall not be
refunded if the form filing or rate or rule filing, for which the
fee was submitted, is disapproved, in whole or in part, by the
commissioner. The refiling of a form filing or rate or rule filing
previously disapproved by the commissioner shall be considered a
new filing for the purposes of the filing fee: Provided, That any
request by the commissioner for additional information pertaining
to a form filing shall not be considered a new filing for purposes
of the filing fee. All fees collected pursuant to this section
shall be used by the commissioner for the operation of the
department of insurance.
(b) This section as amended in the year two thousand two
applies to filings submitted after the thirtieth day of June, two
thousand two. When there is a refiling after that date of a filing
denied before the first day of July, two thousand two, the new
filing fee structure applies and the fee shall be remitted when the
form, rate or rule is refiled after the thirtieth day of June, two
thousand two.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to raise the filing fees
for form, rate and rule filings which will bring West Virginia in
line with other jurisdictions regarding filing fees.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be deleted from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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FINANCE COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
On page two, section thirty-four, line fifteen, by striking
out the word "department" and inserting in lieu thereof the word
"division".