BILL NUMBER: SB 156	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 30, 2009
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 16, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 20, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 14, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2009

   An act to add Section 1879.1 to the Insurance Code, relating to
insurance fraud.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 156, as amended, Wright. Insurance: fraud prevention and
detection.
   Existing law generally provides for the prevention, detection, and
investigation of insurance fraud. Existing law requires insurers to
disclose to an authorized governmental agency information relative to
incidents of workers' compensation fraud, as specified.
   This bill would authorize the Department of Insurance to convene
meetings with insurance companies to discuss specific information
concerning suspected, anticipated, or completed acts of insurance
fraud and would protect a person sharing information pursuant to that
authorization from civil liability, as specified.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) The California Department of Insurance regulates more than 123
billion dollars ($123,000,000,000) of insurance business annually.
Workers' compensation business accounted for 11.5 billion dollars
($11,500,000,000) of that business as of 2006.
   (b) A report issued by the Department of Insurance Advisory Task
Force in May of 2008 estimated that insurance fraud of regulated
businesses amounts to costs of 15 billion dollars ($15,000,000,000)
per year, costing each resident an average of more than five hundred
dollars ($500) per year.
   (c) Perpetrators often defraud more than one insurance program. An
effective antifraud effort requires greater cooperation,
coordination, and communication of impacted insurers, services, and
regulating agencies.
   (d) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory
provisions to provide law enforcement regulators and the regulated
community additional insurance antifraud tools and protections.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1879.1 is added to the Insurance Code, to read:
   1879.1.  The commissioner or his or her designated deputy
commissioner may convene meetings with representatives of insurance
companies to discuss specific information concerning suspected,
anticipated, or completed acts of insurance fraud. Information shared
during the course of those meetings  that is related to
  regarding specific  suspected, anticipated, or
completed acts of insurance fraud, in the absence of fraud or malice
 on the part of the representatives of insurance companies or the
commissioner or designated deputy commissioner  , shall not
make a person subject to civil liability for libel, slander, or any
other relevant cause of action.