[author: Dusty Holoubek]
The deadline for Assembly bills to be passed by the California Assembly and for Senate bills to be passed by the California Senate was June 5.
Bills that met the deadline are eligible for enactment this year. Bills that failed to meet the deadline remain alive and may be acted on in 2016.
Assembly bills that met the deadline are now being considered in the Senate. Senate bills that met the deadline are now being considered in the Assembly.
This year's regular legislative session will end on September 11.
Here are summaries of ten noteworthy property/casualty insurance-related bill that met the June 5 deadline.
Assembly Bills
AB 305 would prohibit the apportionment of a workers' compensation disability from being based on pregnancy, menopause, or osteoporosis. The bill also would provide in statute that the workers' compensation impairment rating for breast cancer may not be less than the rating for prostate cancer.
AB 447 would prohibit an insurer of an apartment from basing its underwriting or rating decisions on the level of income of the apartment's tenants or on the fact that the tenants receive government housing assistance.
AB 553 would enact provisions in model laws on corporate governance which have been adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
AB 822 would declare in statute that a final determination of a claim in an insolvent insurer's liquidation proceeding is not required before a covered claim is submitted to the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA). The bill also would declare that if CIGA denies a claim, the person asserting the claim against CIGA has one year to bring an action to challenge the denial.
AB 828 would exclude a motor vehicle operated by a transport network company from the Vehicle Code's definition of "commercial vehicle."
AB933 would provide in statute that consent to use a person's driver's license number by an insurer or insurance agent is presumed if the person provides his or her driver's license number to determine eligibility, underwriting, and rating of insurance coverage.
AB 1124 would require the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation to develop a prescription drug formulary for workers' compensation benefits.
AB 1232 would give the Insurance Commissioner the authority to select and appoint an administrative law judge to conduct a hearing to review the denial of a license application submitted by a natural person.
SB 438 would increase the property damage threshold for reporting an accident to the DMV from $750 to $1,000.
SB 585 would require insurance companies doing business in California to report claim information before a claim is paid. The claim information would be used by the Department of Child Support Services to determine whether the claim payment is subject to withholding to satisfy a child support obligation.
