BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2535
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Jose Solorio, Chair
AB 2535 (Blakeslee) - As Introduced: February 19, 2010
SUBJECT : Insurance: California Earthquake Authority
SUMMARY : Requires certain public documents of the California
Earthquake Authority (CEA) to be available to the public in
electronic form upon request. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that the materials and documents used by the CEA to
make the determination to open participation in the CEA to
insurers or insurance groups who have not elected to join the
CEA to also be made available in electronic form upon request
by a member of the public.
2)Makes technical, nonsubstantive changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) to allow
participation in the CEA by insurers who, to date, have not
elected to participate if the CEA makes certain findings
regarding its financial condition or the Insurance
Commissioner or the board of the CEA finds that it is
necessary to broaden the availability of residential
earthquake insurance.
2)Requires a finding of necessity to open participation to
non-CEA members that states the specific facts and conditions
that establish the necessity and justify the actions to open
participation to new member insurers or insurance groups.
3)Requires that the materials and documents used by the CEA to
make the determination to open participation to non-CEA
members be considered public documents and requires that a
copy of these materials shall be available to the public.
FISCAL EFFECT : Undetermined.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose. The purpose of this bill is to increase public
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access to materials used by the California Earthquake
Authority which are considered public documents to be made
available to the public in electronic form.
2)Background. The Author states that in 1996 the California
Legislature established the CEA as a publicly managed, largely
privately funded entity. Insurance companies that sell
residential property insurance in California can choose to
offer their own privately funded earthquake insurance or they
can become a participating insurance company in the CEA. Only
participating insurers can offer CEA earthquake insurance
policies.
The CEA has the authority to open up the CEA to nonparticipating
insurers and to modify the requirements for entry into the CEA
based upon a finding of necessity, as specified in law. All
materials and documents used or prepared by the CEA to make
that finding of necessity are considered public documents.
Copies of those public documents must be made available to the
public for inspection at no charge, and members of the public
may purchase copies of the documents from the CEA at actual
cost.
3)Arguments in Support. The author points out that an existing
section of law (Gov Code Section 6253.9) provides that
agencies that have information that constitutes a public
record and it is in an electronic format shall make that
information available to the public in an electronic format.
While the CEA is not considered a state agency, it was created
by the Legislature and is publicly governed. Therefore, the
CEA should be required to provide electronic access to public
records.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Personal Insurance Federation of California (Sponsor)
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Manny Hernandez / INS. / (916) 319-2086
AB 2535
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