Florida Senate - 2016              PROPOSED COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
       Bill No. CS for SB 1422
       
       
       
       
       
                               Ì364684HÎ364684                          
       
       576-03421-16                                                    
       Proposed Committee Substitute by the Committee on Appropriations
       (Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government)
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to insurer regulatory reporting;
    3         creating s. 628.8015, F.S.; defining terms; requiring
    4         an insurer to maintain a risk management framework;
    5         requiring certain insurers and insurance groups to
    6         conduct an own-risk and solvency assessment; providing
    7         requirements for the preparation and submission of an
    8         own-risk and solvency assessment summary report;
    9         providing exemptions and waivers; requiring certain
   10         insurers and members of an insurance group to prepare
   11         and submit a corporate governance annual disclosure;
   12         requiring the initial corporate governance annual
   13         disclosure to be submitted to the Office of Insurance
   14         Regulation by a specified date; authorizing the office
   15         to require an insurer or insurance group to provide a
   16         corporate governance annual disclosure before such
   17         date under certain circumstances; specifying
   18         requirements for preparing and annually filing the
   19         corporate governance annual disclosure; specifying
   20         privilege requirements and prohibitions for certain
   21         filings and related documents; authorizing the Office
   22         of Insurance Regulation to retain third-party
   23         consultants for certain purposes; authorizing the
   24         Financial Services Commission to adopt rules; amending
   25         s. 628.803, F.S.; revising provisions relating to
   26         penalties to conform to the act; providing for
   27         contingent repeal of the act; providing a contingent
   28         effective date.
   29          
   30  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   31  
   32         Section 1. Section 628.8015, Florida Statutes, is created
   33  to read:
   34         628.8015Own-risk and solvency assessment; corporate
   35  governance annual disclosure.—
   36         (1)DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
   37         (a) “Corporate governance annual disclosure” means a report
   38  filed by an insurer or insurance group in accordance with this
   39  section.
   40         (b) “Insurance group” means insurers and affiliates
   41  included within an insurance holding company system.
   42         (c) “Insurer” has the same meaning as in s. 624.03.
   43  However, the term does not include agencies, authorities,
   44  instrumentalities, possessions, or territories of the United
   45  States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the District of
   46  Columbia; or agencies, authorities, instrumentalities, or
   47  political subdivisions of a state.
   48         (d) “Own-risk and solvency assessment” or “ORSA” means an
   49  internal assessment, appropriate to the nature, scale, and
   50  complexity of an insurer or insurance group, conducted by that
   51  insurer or insurance group, of the material and relevant risks
   52  associated with the business plan of an insurer or insurance
   53  group and the sufficiency of capital resources to support those
   54  risks.
   55         (e)“ORSA guidance manual” means the own-risk and solvency
   56  assessment guidance manual developed and adopted by the National
   57  Association of Insurance Commissioners.
   58         (f) “ORSA summary report” means a high-level ORSA summary
   59  of an insurer or insurance group, consisting of a single report
   60  or combination of reports.
   61         (g) “Senior management” means any corporate officer
   62  responsible for reporting information to the board of directors
   63  at regular intervals or providing information to shareholders or
   64  regulators and includes, but is not limited to, the chief
   65  executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operations
   66  officer, chief risk officer, chief procurement officer, chief
   67  legal officer, chief information officer, chief technology
   68  officer, chief revenue officer, chief visionary officer, or any
   69  other executive performing one or more of these functions.
   70         (2) OWN-RISK AND SOLVENCY ASSESSMENT.—
   71         (a) Risk management framework.—An insurer shall maintain a
   72  risk management framework to assist in identifying, assessing,
   73  monitoring, managing, and reporting its material and relevant
   74  risks. An insurer may satisfy this requirement by being a member
   75  of an insurance group with a risk management framework
   76  applicable to the operations of the insurer.
   77         (b) ORSA requirement.—Subject to paragraph (c), an insurer,
   78  or the insurance group of which the insurer is a member, shall
   79  regularly conduct an ORSA consistent with and comparable to the
   80  process in the ORSA guidance manual. The ORSA must be conducted
   81  at least annually and whenever there have been significant
   82  changes to the risk profile of the insurer or the insurance
   83  group of which the insurer is a member.
   84         (c) ORSA summary report.
   85         1.a.A domestic insurer or insurer member of an insurance
   86  group of which the office is the lead state, as determined by
   87  the procedures in the most recent National Association of
   88  Insurance Commissioners Financial Analysis Handbook, shall:
   89         (I) Submit an ORSA summary report to the office once every
   90  calendar year.
   91         (II) Notify the office of its proposed annual submission
   92  date by December 1, 2016. The initial ORSA summary report must
   93  be submitted by December 31, 2017.
   94         b. An insurer not required to submit an ORSA summary report
   95  pursuant to sub-subparagraph a. shall:
   96         (I) Submit an ORSA summary report at the request of the
   97  office, but not more than once per calendar year.
   98         (II) Notify the office of the proposed submission date
   99  within 30 days after the request of the office.
  100         2. An insurer may comply with sub-subparagraph 1.a. or sub
  101  subparagraph 1.b. by providing the most recent and substantially
  102  similar ORSA summary report submitted by the insurer, or another
  103  member of an insurance group of which the insurer is a member,
  104  to the chief insurance regulatory official of another state or
  105  the supervisor or regulator of a foreign jurisdiction. For
  106  purposes of this subparagraph, a “substantially similar” ORSA
  107  summary report is one that contains information comparable to
  108  the information described in the ORSA guidance manual as
  109  determined by the commissioner of the office. If the report is
  110  in a language other than English, it must be accompanied by an
  111  English translation.
  112         3. The chief risk officer or chief executive officer of the
  113  insurer or insurance group responsible for overseeing the
  114  enterprise risk management process must sign the ORSA summary
  115  report attesting that, to the best of his or her knowledge and
  116  belief, the insurer or insurance group applied the enterprise
  117  risk management process described in the ORSA summary report and
  118  provided a copy of the report to the board of directors or the
  119  appropriate board committee.
  120         4. The ORSA summary report must be prepared in accordance
  121  with the ORSA guidance manual. Documentation and supporting
  122  information must be maintained by the insurer and made available
  123  upon examination pursuant to s. 624.316 or upon the request of
  124  the office.
  125         5. The ORSA summary report must include a brief description
  126  of material changes and updates since the prior year report.
  127         6. The office’s review of the ORSA summary report must be
  128  conducted, and any additional requests for information must be
  129  made, using procedures similar to those used in the analysis and
  130  examination of multistate or global insurers and insurance
  131  groups.
  132         (d) Exemption.
  133         1. An insurer is exempt from the requirements of this
  134  subsection if:
  135         a. The insurer has annual direct written and unaffiliated
  136  assumed premium, including international direct and assumed
  137  premium, but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop
  138  Insurance Corporation and the National Flood Insurance Program,
  139  of less than $500 million; or
  140         b. The insurer is a member of an insurance group and the
  141  insurance group has annual direct written and unaffiliated
  142  assumed premium, including international direct and assumed
  143  premium, but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop
  144  Insurance Corporation and the National Flood Insurance Program,
  145  of less than $1 billion.
  146         2. If an insurer is:
  147         a. Exempt under sub-subparagraph 1.a., but the insurance
  148  group of which the insurer is a member is not exempt under sub
  149  subparagraph 1.b., the ORSA summary report must include every
  150  insurer within the insurance group. The insurer may satisfy this
  151  requirement by submitting more than one ORSA summary report for
  152  any combination of insurers if any combination of reports
  153  includes every insurer within the insurance group.
  154         b. Not exempt under sub-subparagraph 1.a., but the
  155  insurance group of which it is a member is exempt under sub
  156  subparagraph 1.b., the insurer must submit to the office the
  157  ORSA summary report applicable only to that insurer.
  158         3. The office may require an exempt insurer to maintain a
  159  risk management framework, conduct an ORSA, and file an ORSA
  160  summary report:
  161         a. Based on unique circumstances, including, but not
  162  limited to, the type and volume of business written, ownership
  163  and organizational structure, federal agency requests, and
  164  international supervisor requests;
  165         b. If the insurer has risk-based capital for a company
  166  action level event pursuant to s. 624.4085(3), meets one or more
  167  of the standards of an insurer deemed to be in hazardous
  168  financial condition as defined in rules adopted by the
  169  commission pursuant to s. 624.81(11), or exhibits qualities of
  170  an insurer in hazardous financial condition as determined by the
  171  office; or
  172         c. If the office determines it is in the best interest of
  173  the state.
  174         4. If an exempt insurer becomes disqualified for an
  175  exemption because of changes in premium as reported on the most
  176  recent annual statement of the insurer or annual statements of
  177  the insurers within the insurance group of which the insurer is
  178  a member, the insurer must comply with the requirements of this
  179  section effective 1 year after the year in which the insurer
  180  exceeded the premium thresholds.
  181         (e) Waiver.—An insurer that does not qualify for an
  182  exemption under paragraph (d) may request a waiver from the
  183  office based upon unique circumstances. If the insurer is part
  184  of an insurance group with insurers domiciled in more than one
  185  state, the office must coordinate with the lead state and with
  186  the other domiciliary regulators in deciding whether to grant a
  187  waiver. In deciding whether to grant a waiver, the office may
  188  consider:
  189         1. The type and volume of business written by the insurer.
  190         2. The ownership and organizational structure of the
  191  insurer.
  192         3. Any other factor the office considers relevant to the
  193  insurer or insurance group of which the insurer is a member.
  194  
  195  A waiver granted pursuant to this paragraph is valid until
  196  withdrawn by the office.
  197         (3) CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ANNUAL DISCLOSURE.—
  198         (a) Scope.This section does not prescribe or impose
  199  corporate governance standards and internal procedures beyond
  200  those required under applicable state corporate law or limit the
  201  authority of the office, or the rights or obligations of third
  202  parties, under s. 624.316.
  203         (b) Disclosure requirement.
  204         1.a. An insurer, or insurer member of an insurance group,
  205  of which the office is the lead state regulator, as determined
  206  by the procedures in the most recent National Association of
  207  Insurance Commissioners Financial Analysis Handbook, shall
  208  submit a corporate governance annual disclosure to the office by
  209  June 1 of each calendar year. The initial corporate governance
  210  annual disclosure must be submitted by December 31, 2018.
  211         b. An insurer or insurance group not required to submit a
  212  corporate governance annual disclosure under sub-subparagraph a.
  213  shall do so at the request of the office, but not more than once
  214  per calendar year. The insurer or insurance group shall notify
  215  the office of the proposed submission date within 30 days after
  216  the request of the office.
  217         c. Before December 31, 2018, the office may require an
  218  insurer or insurance group to provide a corporate governance
  219  annual disclosure:
  220         (I) Based on unique circumstances, including, but not
  221  limited to, the type and volume of business written, the
  222  ownership and organizational structure, federal agency requests,
  223  and international supervisor requests;
  224         (II) If the insurer has risk-based capital for a company
  225  action level event pursuant to s. 624.4085(3), meets one or more
  226  of the standards of an insurer deemed to be in hazardous
  227  financial condition as defined in rules adopted pursuant to s.
  228  624.81(11), or exhibits qualities of an insurer in hazardous
  229  financial condition as determined by the office;
  230         (III) If the insurer is the member of an insurer group of
  231  which the office acts as the lead state regulator as determined
  232  by the procedures in the most recent National Association of
  233  Insurance Commissioners Financial Analysis Handbook; or
  234         (IV) If the office determines that it is in the best
  235  interest of the state.
  236         2. The chief executive officer or corporate secretary of
  237  the insurer or the insurance group must sign the corporate
  238  governance annual disclosure attesting that, to the best of his
  239  or her knowledge and belief, the insurer has implemented the
  240  corporate governance practices and provided a copy of the
  241  disclosure to the board of directors or the appropriate board
  242  committee.
  243         3.a. Depending on the structure of its system of corporate
  244  governance, the insurer or insurance group may provide corporate
  245  governance information at one of the following levels:
  246         (I) The ultimate controlling parent level;
  247         (II) An intermediate holding company level; or
  248         (III) The individual legal entity level.
  249         b. The insurer or insurance group may make the corporate
  250  governance annual disclosure at:
  251         (I) The level used to determine the risk appetite of the
  252  insurer or insurance group;
  253         (II) The level at which the earnings, capital, liquidity,
  254  operations, and reputation of the insurer are collectively
  255  overseen and the supervision of those factors is coordinated and
  256  exercised; or
  257         (III) The level at which legal liability for failure of
  258  general corporate governance duties would be placed.
  259  
  260  An insurer or insurance group must indicate the level of
  261  reporting used and explain any subsequent changes in the
  262  reporting level.
  263         4. The review of the corporate governance annual disclosure
  264  and any additional requests for information shall be made
  265  through the lead state as determined by the procedures in the
  266  most recent National Association of Insurance Commissioners
  267  Financial Analysis Handbook.
  268         5. An insurer or insurance group may comply with this
  269  paragraph by cross-referencing other existing relevant and
  270  applicable documents, including, but not limited to, the ORSA
  271  summary report, Holding Company Form B or F filings, Securities
  272  and Exchange Commission proxy statements, or foreign regulatory
  273  reporting requirements, if the documents contain information
  274  substantially similar to the information described in paragraph
  275  (c). The insurer or insurance group shall clearly identify and
  276  reference the specific location of the relevant and applicable
  277  information within the corporate governance annual disclosure
  278  and attach the referenced document if it has not already been
  279  filed with, or made available to, the office.
  280         6. Each year following the initial filing of the corporate
  281  governance annual disclosure, the insurer or insurance group
  282  shall file an amended version of the previously filed corporate
  283  governance annual disclosure indicating changes that have been
  284  made. If changes have not been made in the previously filed
  285  disclosure, the insurer or insurance group should so indicate.
  286         (c) Preparation of the corporate governance annual
  287  disclosure.
  288         1. The corporate governance annual disclosure must be
  289  prepared in a manner consistent with this subsection.
  290  Documentation and supporting information must be maintained and
  291  made available upon examination pursuant to s. 624.316 or upon
  292  the request of the office.
  293         2. The corporate governance annual disclosure must be as
  294  descriptive as possible and include any attachments or example
  295  documents used in the governance process.
  296         3. The insurer or insurance group has discretion in
  297  determining the appropriate format of the corporate governance
  298  annual disclosure in communicating the required information and
  299  responding to inquiries, provided that the corporate governance
  300  annual disclosure includes material and relevant information
  301  sufficient to enable the office to understand the corporate
  302  governance structure, policies, and practices used by the
  303  insurer or insurance group.
  304         4. The corporate governance annual disclosure must describe
  305  the:
  306         a. Corporate governance framework and structure of the
  307  insurer or insurance group.
  308         b. Policies and practices of the most senior governing
  309  entity and significant committees.
  310         c. Policies and practices for directing senior management.
  311         d. Processes by which the board, its committees, and senior
  312  management ensure an appropriate amount of oversight to the
  313  critical risk areas that have an impact on the insurer’s
  314  business activities.
  315         (4)CONFIDENTIALITY.—The filings and related documents
  316  submitted pursuant to subsections (2) and (3) are privileged and
  317  not subject to subpoena or discovery directly from the office.
  318  However, the department or office may use these filings and
  319  related documents in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal
  320  action brought against an insurer as part of the official duties
  321  of the department or office. A waiver of any applicable claim of
  322  privilege in these filings and related documents may not occur
  323  because of a disclosure to the office under this section,
  324  because of any other provision of the Insurance Code, or because
  325  of sharing under s. 624.4212. The office or a person receiving
  326  these filings and related documents, while acting under the
  327  authority of the office, or with whom such filings and related
  328  documents are shared pursuant to s. 624.4212, is not permitted
  329  or required to testify in any private civil action concerning
  330  any such filings or related documents.
  331         (5) USE OF THIRD-PARTY CONSULTANTS.—The office may retain
  332  third-party consultants at the expense of the insurer or
  333  insurance group for the purpose of assisting it in the
  334  performance of its regulatory responsibilities under this
  335  section, including, but not limited to, the risk management
  336  framework, the ORSA, the ORSA summary report, and the corporate
  337  governance annual disclosure. A third-party consultant must
  338  agree, in writing, to:
  339         (a) Adhere to confidentiality standards and requirements
  340  applicable to the office governing the sharing and use of such
  341  filings and related documents.
  342         (b) Verify to the office, with notice to the insurer, that
  343  the consultant is free of any conflict of interest.
  344         (c) Monitor compliance with applicable confidentiality and
  345  conflict of interest standards pursuant to a system of internal
  346  procedures.
  347         (6) RULE ADOPTION.—The commission may adopt rules to
  348  administer this section.
  349         Section 2. Subsections (1) and (4) of section 628.803,
  350  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
  351         628.803 Sanctions.—
  352         (1) Any company failing, without just cause, to file any
  353  registration statement or certificate of exemption required to
  354  be filed pursuant to commission rules relating to this part or
  355  to submit an ORSA summary report or a corporate governance
  356  annual disclosure required pursuant to s. 628.8015 shall, in
  357  addition to other penalties prescribed under the Florida
  358  Insurance Code, be subject to pay a penalty of $100 for each
  359  day’s delay, not to exceed a total of $10,000.
  360         (4) If the office determines that any person violated s.
  361  628.461, or s. 628.801, or s. 628.8015, the violation may serve
  362  as an independent basis for disapproving dividends or
  363  distributions and for placing the insurer under an order of
  364  supervision in accordance with part VI of chapter 624.
  365         Section 3. Section 628.8015, Florida Statutes, and the
  366  amendments made by this act to s. 628.803, Florida Statutes, are
  367  repealed on October 2, 2021, unless, before that date, the
  368  Legislature saves from repeal through reenactment the amendments
  369  to s. 624.4212, Florida Statutes, made by SB 1416 or similar
  370  legislation.
  371         Section 4. This act shall take effect October 1, 2016, if
  372  SB 1416 or similar legislation is adopted in the same
  373  legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes a law.