Insurance payments: interception.

Existing law creates the Department of Child Support Services and provides for the interception of funds from state tax refunds, lottery winnings, unemployment compensation benefits, and benefits under the Public Employees' Retirement System that otherwise would be paid to a person owing past due child support. Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the department's powers and duties. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2016, create the Insurance Payment Intercept Program within the Department of Insurance. The bill would require the Department of Child Support Services to facilitate a data match system using automated data exchanges through which an insurer or self-insurer would be required to report, prior to the payment of a claim, the name, address, and, if known, date of birth and social security number or other taxpayer identification number for each claimant to match a claimant who owes past due support, as specified. This bill would require the commissioner, if he or she has good cause to believe that an insurer or self-insurer has not complied with the bill's requirements, to give written notice of the alleged noncompliance specifying a reasonable time, not less than 30 days, during which the insurer or self-insurer is required to correct the noncompliance. The bill would require the commissioner to impose a fine, not to exceed $1,000, for each violation if an insurer or self-insurer fails to correct the noncompliance within the specified timeframe, and to issue an order requiring the violator to comply with that requirement. The bill would authorize an insurer or self-insurer who disagrees with the commissioner's determination of noncompliance to request an administrative hearing within 30 days of receipt of the notice of noncompliance. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.