(1) As a result of any market conduct surveillance, the commissioner may order a monetary penalty of up to three thousand dollars for every act in violation of any law, rule, or prior lawful order of the commissioner, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of thirty thousand dollars for every act or violation. If the company knew or reasonably should have known that its conduct was in violation of any law, rule, or prior lawful order of the commissioner, the commissioner may order a penalty of up to thirty thousand dollars for every act or violation, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of two hundred thousand dollars in any one calendar year.
The commissioner shall ensure that fines and penalties levied as a result of marketconduct surveillance or other action enforcing this part 3 are consistent, reasonable, and justified. Every fine or penalty must relate to the general business practices and compliance activities of insurers and not to clearly infrequent or unintentional random errors that do not cause significant consumer harm.
When determining the appropriate civil penalty for a company and whether to stayany portion of the civil penalty, the commissioner shall consider:
Actions taken by the company to maintain membership in, and comply with the standards of, best-practice organizations that promote high ethical standards of conduct in the marketplace;
The extent to which the company maintains regulatory compliance programs to selfassess, self-report, and remediate problems detected; and
Regulatory compliance programs or corrective actions that a company has institutedvoluntarily prior to or during the pendency of any market conduct surveillance in order to remedy violations.
If the commissioner stays any portion of the civil penalty, the commissioner mayreinstate the full civil penalty, and may impose additional penalties, if the company fails to remedy the violations.
The commissioner shall include in the final agency order the civil penalty amount perviolation for every act in violation of any law, rule, or prior lawful order of the commissioner.
Source: L. 2017: (2) amended, (SB 17-249), ch. 283, p. 1544, § 4, effective September 1; entire part added, (HB 17-1231), ch. 284, p. 1573, § 10, effective January 1, 2018.