§23-2C-3 Creation of employer mutual as successor organization of the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission. - West Virginia Statutes

§23-2C-3. Creation of employer mutual as successor organization of the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission.
(a) (1) On or before July 1, 2005, the executive director may take such actions as are necessary to establish an employers' mutual insurance company as a domestic, private, nonstock, corporation to:

(A) Insure employers against liability for injuries and occupational diseases for which their employees may be entitled to receive compensation pursuant to this chapter and federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §901, et seq.;

(B) Provide employer's liability insurance incidental to and provided in connection with the insurance specified in paragraph (A) of this subdivision, including coal workers' pneumoconiosis coverage and employer excess liability coverage as provided in this chapter; and

(C) Transact other kinds of property and casualty insurance for which the company is otherwise qualified under the provisions of this code.

(2) The company may not sell, assign or transfer substantial assets or ownership of the company.

(b) If the executive director establishes a domestic mutual insurance company pursuant to subsection (a) of this section:

(1) As soon as practical, the company established pursuant to the provisions of this article shall, through a vote of a majority of its provisional board, file its corporate charter and bylaws with the Insurance Commissioner and apply for a license with the Insurance Commissioner to transact insurance in this state. Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, the Insurance Commissioner shall act on the documents within fifteen days of the filing by the company.

(2) In recognition of the workers' compensation insurance liability insurance crisis in this state at the time of enactment of this article and the critical need to expedite the initial operation of the company, the Legislature authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to review the documentation submitted by the company and to determine the initial capital and surplus requirements of the company, notwithstanding the provisions of section five-b, article three, chapter thirty-three of this code. The company shall furnish the Insurance Commissioner with all information and cooperate in all respects necessary for the Insurance Commissioner to perform the duties set forth in this section and in other provisions of this chapter and chapter thirty-three of this code. The Insurance Commissioner shall monitor the economic viability of the company during its initial operation on not less than a monthly basis, until the commissioner, in his or her discretion, determines that monthly reporting is not necessary. In all other respects the company shall comply with the applicable provisions of chapter thirty-three of this code.

(3) Subject to the provisions of subdivision (4) of this subsection, the Insurance Commissioner may waive other requirements imposed on mutual insurance companies by the provisions of chapter thirty-three of this code the Insurance Commissioner determines are necessary to enable the company to begin insuring employers in this state at the earliest possible date.

(4) Within forty months of the date of the issuance of its license to transact insurance, the company shall comply with the capital and surplus requirements set forth in subsection (a), section five-b, article three, chapter thirty-three of this code in effect on the effective date of this enactment, unless the deadline is extended by the Insurance Commissioner.

(c) For the duration of its existence, the company is not a department, unit, agency or instrumentality of the state for any purpose. All debts, claims, obligations and liabilities of the company, whenever incurred, are the debts, claims, obligations and liabilities of the company only and not of the state or of any department, unit, agency, instrumentality, officer or employee of the state.

(d) The moneys of the company are not part of the General Revenue Fund of the state. The debts, claims, obligations and liabilities of the company are not a debt of the state or a pledge of the credit of the state.

(e) The company is not subject to provisions of article nine-a, chapter six of this code; the provisions of article two, chapter six-c of this code; the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code; the provisions of article three, chapter five-a of this code; the provisions of article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code; or the provisions of chapter twelve of this code.

(f) If the commission has been terminated, effective upon the termination, private carriers, including the company, are not subject to payment of premium taxes, surcharges and credits contained in article three, chapter thirty-three of this code on premiums received for coverage under this chapter. In lieu thereof, the workers' compensation insurance market is subject to the following:

(1) (A) Each fiscal year, the Insurance Commissioner shall calculate a percentage surcharge to be collected by each private carrier from its policyholders. The surcharge percentage shall be calculated by dividing the previous fiscal year's total premiums collected plus deductible payments by all employers into the portion of the Insurance Commissioner's budget amount attributable to regulation of the private carrier market. This resulting percentage shall be applied to each policyholder's premium payment and deductible payments as a surcharge and remitted to the Insurance Commissioner. Said surcharge shall be remitted within ninety days of receipt of premium payments;

(B) With respect to fiscal years beginning on and after July 1, 2008, in lieu of the surcharge set forth in the preceding paragraph, each private carrier shall collect a surcharge in the amount of five and five-tenths percent of the premium collected plus the total of all premium discounts based on deductible provisions that were applied: Provided, That prior to June 30, 2013, and every five years thereafter, the commissioner shall review the percentage surcharge and determine a new percentage as he or she deems necessary.

(C) The amounts required to be collected under paragraph (B) of this subdivision shall be remitted to the Insurance Commissioner on or before the twenty-fifth day of the month succeeding the end of the quarter in which they are collected, except for the fourth quarter for which the surcharge shall be remitted on or before March 1 of the succeeding year.

(2) Each fiscal year, the Insurance Commissioner shall calculate a percentage surcharge to be remitted on a quarterly basis by self-insured employers and said percentage shall be calculated by dividing previous year's self-insured payroll in the state into the portion of the Insurance Commissioner's budget amount attributable to regulation of the self-insured employer market. This resulting percentage shall be applied to each self-insured employer's payroll and the resulting amount shall be remitted as a regulatory surcharge by each self-insured employer. The Industrial Council may promulgate a rule for implementation of this section. The company, all other private carriers and all self-insured employers shall furnish the Insurance Commissioner with all required information and cooperate in all respects necessary for the Insurance Commissioner to perform the duties set forth in this section and in other provisions of this chapter and chapter thirty-three of this code. The surcharge shall be calculated so as to only defray the costs associated with the administration of this chapter and the funds raised shall not be used for any other purpose except as set forth in subdivision (4) of this subsection;

(3) (A) Each private carrier shall collect a premiums surcharge from its policyholders as annually determined, by May 1 of each year, by the Insurance Commissioner to produce forty-five million dollars annually, of each policyholder's periodic premium amount for workers' compensation insurance: Provided, That the surcharge rate on policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2008, shall be nine percent of the premium collected plus the total of all premium discounts based on deductible provisions that were applied.

(B) By May 1 each year, the self-insured employer community shall be assessed a cumulative total of nine million dollars. The methodology for the assessment shall be fair and equitable and determined by exempt legislative rule issued by the Industrial Council. The amount collected pursuant to this subdivision shall be remitted to the Insurance Commissioner for deposit in the Workers' Compensation Debt Reduction Fund created in section five, article two-d of this chapter.

(4) On or before July 1, 2009, the Insurance Commissioner shall make a one-time lump sum transfer of $40 million generated from the surcharges assessed pursuant to paragraph (B), subdivision (1) of this subsection and subdivision (2) of this subsection to the Bureau of Employment Programs' Commissioner for deposit with the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States as a credit of this state in the Unemployment Trust Fund Account maintained pursuant to section four, article eight, chapter twenty-one-a of this code.

(g) The new premiums surcharge imposed by paragraphs (A) and (B), subdivision (3), subsection (f) of this section sunset and are not collectible with respect to workers' compensation insurance premiums paid when the policy is renewed on or after the first day of the month following the month in which the Governor certifies to the Legislature that the revenue bonds issued pursuant to article two-d of this chapter have been retired and that the unfunded liability of the Old Fund has been paid or has been provided for in its entirety, whichever occurs last.