BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1232
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1232 (Cristina Garcia) - As Amended April 13, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This, as proposed to be amended, bill permits administrative law
judges (ALJs) at the Department of Insurance (department) to
hear the appeal of individuals who are denied a license by the
department.
AB 1232
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FISCAL EFFECT:
Negligible state fiscal effect.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, existing law does not
provide the commissioner the authority to hear new licensee
applicant cases. As a result, an overwhelming majority of the
hearings are heard by the Office of Administrative Hearings
(OAH). OAH conducts hearings, mediations, and settlement
conferences for more than 1,600 state, local, and county
agencies, which makes it challenging to schedule hearings for
all outstanding applicants in a timely and expeditious manner.
Individuals with a pending application or a new licensee
applicant are unable to work in a licensed capacity in the
insurance industry and must wait for their case to be
resolved. The department sends approximately 160 licensee
cases per year to the OAH since the commissioner does not have
the authority to assign licensing matters to the
Administrative Hearing Bureau (AHB) within the department. It
is not uncommon for more than a year to pass before an ALJ in
OAH is able to hear a case.
This bill will provide governmental efficiency by streamlining
the licensee hearing adjudication process for new licensee
applicants. An administratively efficient process better
serves new licensee applicants and better protects consumers.
AB 1232
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2)Administrative Hearing Bureau. The department employs four
ALJs in its AHB. These ALJs are hired to hear insurance rate
cases under Proposition 103, which requires property/casualty
insurers to submit their proposed rating plans to the
commissioner for approval. Because the flow of proposed
rating plans is irregular, these ALJs have time available for
other duties. Applicant cases would continue to be referred
to OAH when AHB staff is not available to handle the cases.
3)Amendments simply clarify this bill applies to persons subject
to the section, not chapter.
Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916)
319-2081