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Introduced Version Senate Bill 162 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted



Senate Bill No. 162

(By Senators Unger, Sharpe, Ross, Helmick, Anderson, Kessler, Snyder, Minear and Hunter)

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[Introduced January 20, 2000; 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 five, article two-a, chapter seventeen-d of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring the division of motor vehicles to implement a computerized motor vehicle liability insurance tracking system on or before the first day of July, two thousand one; requiring insurance companies to provide notice to the division's computer tracking system of changes in status of motor vehicle liability insurance policies in effect on motor vehicles registered in this state; and requiring state and local law-enforcement agencies to install computer equipment in certain law-enforcement vehicles to access the computer tracking system on or before the first day of July, two thousand two.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article two-a, chapter seventeen-d of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. SECURITY UPON MOTOR VEHICLES.
§17D-2A-5. Cancellation of insurance policy; notice to division; suspension of registration; computerized tracking system; minimum policy term.

(a) An insurance company shall provide the division of motor vehicles with a cancellation notice within ten days of the effective date of cancellation whenever the company issues or causes to be issued a cancellation under the provisions of subsections (b) through (e), section one, article six-a, chapter thirty-three of this code. Unless the division of motor vehicles by legislative rule allows for an alternative to suspension, the division shall then suspend the driver license of the owner of such vehicle for a period of thirty days and shall suspend the motor vehicle registration until proof of insurance is presented to the division. If, within the thirty-day period a license or registration is suspended, the owner shows proof of insurance, the owner's license and registration shall be immediately removed from suspension. If a license or registration is not suspended as result of the cancellation of insurance, the owner of the motor vehicle shall submit a statement under penalty of false swearing, that the cancellation will not result in the operation of an uninsured motor vehicle upon the highways of this state, and this verification shall be sent to the commissioner within twenty days of the notice of cancellation.
(b) On or before the first day of July, two thousand one, the division, in cooperation with the West Virginia state police and the insurance commission, shall implement a computerized system to track the status of motor vehicle liability insurance policies on all motor vehicles registered in this state, and which system shall include the capacity to provide law-enforcement officers in the field the ability to undertake instantaneous motor vehicle liability insurance background checks via computer or other electronic transmission. Upon implementation of the computer tracking system, an insurance company must provide notice within forty-eight hours to the division's computer tracking system via computer or other electronic transmission of any change in status of a motor vehicle liability insurance policy it has in effect on a motor vehicle registered in this state. On or before the first day of July, two thousand two, all state and local law-enforcement agencies charged with the enforcement of motor vehicle laws shall install appropriate computer or other electronic equipment in at least fifty percent of their law-enforcement vehicles to provide access to the division's computer tracking system. When the computer tracking system is fully operational, the division may forego the driver's license suspension and motor vehicle registration suspension requirements of subsection (a) of this section in those instances where proof of insurance or other security can be verified by the computer tracking system. The division shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine of this code to implement the provisions of this subsection.
(b) (c) On or before the fifteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-five, the commissioner of motor vehicles shall report to the Legislature upon proceedings pursuant to this section. The report shall include the total number of statements selected for verification as required by section three, article three, chapter seventeen-a, the total number of notices received from insurers, the total number of notices of pending suspensions issued and the total number of cases in which cancellation was found to have resulted in a lapse of coverage upon a vehicle operated upon the highways of this state during the prior year.
(c) (d) No policy of motor vehicle liability insurance issued or delivered for issuance in this state shall be contracted for a period of less than ninety days: Provided, That the insurance commissioner may establish exceptions thereto by rules and regulations to chapter twenty-nine-a.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the creation, by July 1, 2001, of a computerized system to track uninsured motor vehicles in this state.

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