(a) The commissioner may seek resolution of a complaint by informal conciliation at any time and may require the complainant and insurer or rating organization to meet and confer for the purposes of resolving the matter complained of by informal conciliation. The commissioner may decline to find probable cause for a complaint and may deny a request for a public hearing if the complainant refuses to enter into informal conciliation at the commissioner’s request. Likewise, the commissioner may find probable cause for a complaint and may act to hold a public hearing, whether or not a request for a public hearing accompanied the complaint, if the insurer or rating organization refuses to enter into informal conciliation at the commissioner’s request.
(b) Communications to the commissioner in respect to resolution of a complaint by informal conciliation shall be made to him or her in official confidence within the meaning of Sections 1040 and 1041 of the Evidence Code and shall not be disclosed by the commissioner. However, the commissioner may report on the results of informal conciliation.
(Added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 1289, Sec. 1.6.)