(a) An insurer doing business in this state, except as provided by subdivision (f), shall report the information specified by the commissioner that is collected by a licensed advisory organization on an annual basis for each class of insurance designated in the prior calendar year by the commissioner pursuant to subdivision (b) for policies issued or issued for delivery in California. The commissioner shall waive the requirements of this subdivision for any information that has been provided to the Insurance Services Office by the insurer, if the Insurance Services Office provides the information to the commissioner on or before the date on which the insurer is required to file the statement.
(b) No later than October 1 of each year the commissioner shall designate those classes of insurance, as defined by the Insurance Services Office, that are generally unavailable or unaffordable in California, or for which there have been unusually great premium increases, or in the case of any class of liability insurance, for which reinsurance is generally unavailable or unaffordable in the state or for which there have been unusually great reinsurance premium increases. The factors the commissioner shall consider in making this determination shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Consumer complaints.
(2) Rate complaints.
(3) Surveillance by the department.
(4) Market conduct.
(c) Insurers shall not be required to report under this section information required to be reported under Sections 1857.7, 1864, 11555.2, and 12963.
(d) The department shall retain the information reported pursuant to this section for a period of no less than three years.
(e) Insurers that are members of the same insurance group may aggregate the information required by this section in a single report.
(f) The reports required by this section shall not be applicable to any insurer that has been established for less than three years or can demonstrate upon application to the commissioner that its market share is less than 1 percent of the coverage for which the commissioner seeks information. However, the commissioner may deny the exemption application if he or she reasonably determines (1) that the aggregate data, when reported, is less than 60 percent of the written premium volume for the class, or (2) that unless the insurer reported its data, the aggregate data reported would not be statistically credible or reasonably complete and informative. An insurer that has been exempted by the commissioner from reporting shall, upon request of the commissioner, report the information required by subdivision (a) to cover the three most recent calendar years, in accordance with subdivision (g). In no event shall any insurer that has reported data for a calendar year pursuant to this section be required to report that same data in a subsequent year.
(g) The reports required by this section shall be filed on a form provided by the commissioner no later than May 1 of the calendar year following the year for which the information is reported.
(h) The department shall adopt regulations implementing this section as emergency regulations in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, except that for the purposes of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, any regulations adopted under this section shall be deemed to be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare. These regulations shall remain in effect for 180 days. The regulations may require insurers to report the information required by subdivision (d) by categories other than those used by the Insurance Services Office.
(i) The information provided pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be confidential and not revealed by the department, except that the commissioner may publish an analysis of the data in aggregate form or in a manner which does not disclose confidential information about identified insurers or insureds.
(j) An insurer may fulfill its obligation to file or submit the experience, data, statistics, or other information listed in or designated under the terms of this section by reporting its records in the manner provided by Section 1857 to a licensed advisory organization that maintains the insurer’s records and those of other insurers, makes the insurer’s records available for examination and inspection by the commissioner or reports the records of an insurer to the department upon a specific request of the commissioner, and reports the aggregate records of insurers to the department according to reasonable schedules approved by the commissioner. The reports of aggregate records shall not disclose the information of any individual insured, insurer, or insurer group.
(Amended by Stats. 1997, Ch. 350, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1998.)