AB 2776, as introduced, Chu. Insurance: claims settlement.
Existing law specifies various acts that are defined as unfair methods of competition and deceptive acts or practices in the business of insurance. Existing law, on January 1, 2017, requires that regulations adopted by the Insurance Commissioner, with regard to unfair business practices as it relates to the settlement of claims, take into consideration settlement practices by classes of insurers, and every insurer, upon receiving notice of a claim, is required to immediately, but no more than 15 calendar days after receipt of the claim, provide the insured with a legible reproduction of specified provisions of law along with a written notice containing specified language.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 790.034 of the Insurance Code, as added
2by Section 7 of Chapter 348 of the Statutes of 2015, is amended
3to read:
(a) Regulations adopted by the commissioner
2pursuant to this article that relate to the settlement of claims shall
3take into consideration settlement practices by classes of insurers.
4(b) (1) Upon receiving notice of a claim,begin delete everyend deletebegin insert eachend insert insurer
5shall immediately, butbegin delete noend deletebegin insert notend insert more than 15 calendar days after
6receipt of the claim, provide the insured with a legible reproduction
7of subdivisions (h) and (i) of Section 790.03 along with a
written
8notice containing the following language in at least 10-point type:
10“In addition to Section 790.03 of the Insurance Code, Fair Claims
11Settlement Practices Regulations govern how insurance claims
12must be processed in this state. These regulations are available at
13the Department of Insurance Internet Web site,
14www.insurance.ca.gov, or by calling the department’s consumer
15information line at 1-800-927-HELP(4357). You may also obtain
16a copy of this law and these regulations free of charge from this
17insurer.”
19(2) Every insurer shall provide, when requested orally or in
20writing by an insured, a legible reproduction of Section 790.03begin delete of and copies of Sections 2695.5, 2695.7, 2695.8,
21the Insurance Codeend delete
22and 2695.9 of Subchapter 7.5 of Chapter 5 of Title 10 of the
23California Code of Regulations, unless the regulations are
24inapplicable to that class of insurer. This law and these
regulations
25shall be provided to the insured within 15 calendar days of request.
26(3) The provisions of this subdivision shall apply to all insurers
27except for those that are licensed pursuant to Chapter 1
28(commencing with Section 12340) of Part 6 of Division 2, with
29respect to policies and endorsements described in Section 790.031.
30(c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2017.
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