BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






                        SENATE COMMITTEE ON BANKING, FINANCE,
                                    AND INSURANCE
                           Senator Ronald Calderon, Chair


          AB 2779 (Committee on Insurance)  Hearing Date:  June 16, 2010  

          As Amended: April 8, 2010
          Fiscal:             No
          Urgency:       No

          VOTES:              Asm. Floor(04/29/10)74-01/Pass
                         Asm. Ins.                (04/21/10)12-0/Pass


           SUMMARY    Would delete obsolete provisions of law establishing  
          steps the Insurance Commissioner was mandated to take prior to  
          the start-up of California's Low Cost Auto Insurance Program in  
          2000 and before its expansion to additional counties in 2006.
          
           
          DIGEST
            
          Existing law

           1.Authorizes the California Low-Cost Automobile Insurance  
            Program to begin in the County of Los Angeles and the City and  
            County of San Francisco no later than July 1, 2000 and  
            specifies the Insurance Commissioner shall, in consultation  
            with the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan, adopt  
            implementation regulations within  60 days of the program's  
            effective date; 

          2.Requires the California Low-Cost Automobile Insurance Program  
            to begin in the Alameda, Fresno, Orange, Riverside, San  
            Bernardino, and San Diego counties by April 1, 2006, and in  
            all other counties at the discretion of the Insurance  
            Commissioner  and provides that the Commissioner, in  
            consultation with the California Automobile Assigned Risk  
            Plan, must adopt regulations to implement this program  
            expansion;

          3.Requires the Insurance Commissioner to adopt these regulations  
            as emergency regulations.

           




                                                                      AB  
          2779 (Committee on Insurance), Page 2



          This bill

            1.  Would delete the above provisions of existing law.


           


          COMMENTS

          1.  Purpose of the bill   To clean-up the Insurance Code by  
              removing certain "dead letter" provisions which served a  
              function at the time of the California Low Cost Automobile  
              Program's original establishment and subsequent expansion  
              but no longer serve any function within the California  
              Insurance Code. 

           2.  Background  This a code clean-up bill sponsored by the  
              Assembly Insurance Committee.

           3.  Questions   None

           4.  Suggested Amendments  None

           5.  Prior and Related Legislation  

              In 1999, SB 171 (Escutia) established the low-cost  
              automobile insurance program in Los Angeles County (Chapter  
              794, Statutes of 1999), and in that same year SB 527  
              (Speier) established the program in the City and County of  
              San Francisco (Chapter 807, Statutes of 1999).  In 2005, SB  
              20 (Escutia) extended the program to six additional counties  
              and provided authority for the program to be extended  
              statewide, based upon the Insurance Commissioner's  
              determination of need for that insurance.    
           

          POSITIONS
          
          Support
           
          None
           
          Oppose
               
          None




                                                                      AB  
          2779 (Committee on Insurance), Page 3




          Consultant:   Kenneth Cooley (916) 651-4102