BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1515 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 1515 (Committee on Insurance) - As Amended April 6, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Insurance |Vote:|12 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: As proposed to be amended, this omnibus bill contains numerous minor, technical, and/or clarifying changes to the Insurance Code. AB 1515 Page 2 Proposed amendments clarify that a requirement to add additional contact information for the California Department of Insurance (CDI) to specified contract forms do not trigger a re-filing requirement. FISCAL EFFECT: Negligible state fiscal effect. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. This bill is the annual insurance omnibus bill, containing numerous minor changes. Most notably, the bill corrects erroneous cross-references to the vehicle code relating to individual motor vehicle records (MVR). Under Proposition 103, insurers are required to provide a "good driver" discount to drivers with less than two "moving violations." Subsequent legislation required insurers to use the number of "points" on a driver's MVR when determining "good driver" status and when determining auto insurance rates. Previous legislation altered the numbering of the relevant Vehicle Code section and failed to update the cross-references in the Insurance Code. This bill is sponsored by the California Department of Insurance. 2)Amendments. The Insurance Code specifies certain requirements for forms and communication materials used by insurers, and CDI reviews forms and materials to ensure compliance with the requirements. Generally, when insurers make changes to such forms, a review process is triggered and they are required to re-file the forms with CDI for review. This bill contains requirements that certain forms include CDI's internet web address. The amendments ensure the review and re-filing AB 1515 Page 3 process is not triggered by this trivial change to the forms. Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081