Insurance: omnibus.

(1) Existing law requires every surplus line broker whose annual tax for the preceding calendar year was $5,000 or more to make monthly installment payments on account of the annual tax on business done during the calendar year, and authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to relieve a surplus line broker of his or her obligations to make monthly payments if the broker establishes to the commissioner's satisfaction that he or she has ceased to transact business in the state, or his or her annual tax for the current year will be less than $5,000. This bill would raise the threshold for making monthly installment payments to $20,000 or more in annual tax for the preceding calendar year, and would authorize the commissioner to relieve a surplus line broker of his or her obligations to make monthly payments if his or her annual tax for the current year would be less than $20,000. (2) Existing law exempts nonprofit cooperative assessment associations, whose membership and insurance are restricted to members of a labor union, from provisions relating to the supervision or regulation of insurance with respect to the provision of job protection benefits to their members. Existing law also prohibits these associations from being a member of the California Insurance Guarantee Association for the purpose of providing insolvency insurance to each member. This bill would provide that the job protection benefits may include accidental death benefits. The bill would prohibit these associations from being a member of any insurance guaranty association in this state and would require each policy issued in this state pursuant to these provisions to contain a specified notice. (3) Existing law prohibits, among other things, an admitted insurer that is licensed to issue and is issuing motor vehicle liability policies from failing or refusing to accept an application for that insurance, failing or refusing to issue that insurance to the applicant, or from issuing or canceling that insurance under conditions less favorable to the insured than in other comparable cases because of specified reasons, including, but not limited to, discrimination between persons within the same geographic area. Existing law prohibits the admitted motor vehicle liability insurer from using specified characteristics, including, but not limited to, location within a geographic area, in and of itself, as a condition or risk for which a higher rate, premium, or charge is required of the insured for that insurance. Existing law also requires an admitted insurer, licensed to issue and issuing motor vehicle liability policies, motor vehicle physical damage policies, or both, to submit annually to the commissioner a record of loss experience, as specified, for the geographic area, as defined, including statistical data by ZIP Code area. An insurer may satisfy its obligation to report statistical data by providing its loss experience data and statewide expense ratio and combined ratio on its assigned-risk business to a rating or advisory organization for submission to the commissioner. This data is required to be made public by the commissioner annually after examination. This bill would instead require an insured to submit the record of loss experience for the geographic area biennially. The bill would also require statewide summary data to be submitted to the commissioner annually. The bill would also require that the reported data be made available to the public biennially. (4) Existing law requires insurers transacting insurance in this state whose annual tax for the preceding calendar year was $5,000 or more to make prepayments of the annual tax for the current calendar year, except as provided. The commissioner is authorized to relieve an insurer of its obligations to make prepayments if the insurer establishes to the commissioner's satisfaction that the insurer has ceased to transact business in the state, or the insurer's annual tax for the current year will be less than $5,000. This bill would raise the threshold for making tax prepayments to $20,000 or more in annual tax for the preceding calendar year, and would authorize the commissioner to relieve an insurer of its obligations to make prepayments if the insurer's annual tax for the current year would be less than $20,000. (5) Existing law requires every insurer doing business in this state to make and file with the Insurance Commissioner financial statements exhibiting its condition and affairs as of the previous year. Existing law requires credit for reinsurance be allowed for a domestic ceding insurer as either an asset or a deduction from liability on account of reinsurance ceded only when the reinsurer meets specified requirements, including, but not limited to, when the reinsurance is ceded to an assuming insurer that maintains a trust fund in a qualified United States financial institution, as defined, for the payment of the valid claims of its United States ceding insurers, their assigns, and successors in interest. Existing law requires that at any time after the assuming insurer has permanently discontinued underwriting new business secured by the trust for at least 3 full years, the commissioner may authorize a reduction in the required trusteed surplus, as provided, and the minimum required trusteed surplus may not be reduced to an amount less than 50% of the assuming insurer's liabilities attributable to reinsurance ceded by United States ceding insurers covered by the trust. This bill would authorize the trusteed surplus to be reduced to not less than 30% of the assuming insurer's liabilities attributable to reinsurance ceded by United States ceding insurers covered by the trust if the commissioner expressly finds that appropriate circumstances justify a lower level of minimum required trusteed surplus. Existing law requires that credit be allowed for a domestic insurer when the reinsurance is ceded to an assuming insurer that has been certified by the commissioner as a reinsurer in this state and secures its obligations in accordance with certain requirements. The commissioner is required to post a notice on the department's Internet Web site promptly upon receipt of any application for certification, including instructions on how members of the public may respond to the application, and the commissioner is prohibited from taking final action on the application until at least 90 days after posting the required notice. This bill would reduce the period during which the commissioner is prohibited from taking final action on the application to 30 days after posting the required notice. (6) Existing law, except as provided, prohibits an autonomous vehicle, as defined, from being operated on public roads until the manufacturer submits an application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, and that application is approved by the department. The application is required to contain, at a minimum, specified certifications, including, but not limited to, a certification that the manufacturer will maintain a surety bond or proof of self-insurance in an amount of $5,000,000. This bill would provide that the $5,000,000 in coverage may also be in the form of an instrument of insurance.