GA Code § 33-9-21 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 33 - Insurance|Chapter 9 - Regulation of Rates, Underwriting Rules, and Related Organizations|§ 33-9-21. Maintenance and Filing Rates, Rating Plans, Rating Systems, or Underwriting Rules; Examination of Claim Reserve Practices by Commissioner

  Every insurer shall maintain with the Commissioner copies of the rates, rating plans, rating systems, underwriting rules, and policy or bond forms used by it. The maintenance of rates, rating plans, rating systems, underwriting rules, and policy or bond forms with the Commissioner by a licensed rating organization of which an insurer is a member or subscriber will be sufficient compliance with this Code section for any insurer maintaining membership or subscriberships in such organization, to the extent that the insurer uses the rates, rating plans, rating systems, underwriting rules, and policy or bond forms of such organization; provided, however, that the Commissioner, when he or she deems it necessary, without compliance with the rule-making procedures of this title or Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act":   May require any domestic, foreign, and alien insurer to file the required rates, rating plans, rating systems, underwriting rules, and policy or bond forms used independent of any filing made on its behalf or as a member of a licensed rating organization, as the Commissioner shall deem to be necessary to ensure compliance with the standards of this chapter and Code Section 34-9-130 and for the best interests of the citizens of this state;   Shall require each domestic, foreign, and alien insurer, writing or authorized to write workers' compensation insurance in this state, to file such insurer's own individual rate filing for rates to be charged for workers' compensation insurance coverage written in this state. Such rates shall be developed and established based upon each individual insurer's experience in the State of Georgia to the extent actuarially credible. The experience filed shall include the loss ratios, reserves, reserve development information, expenses, including commissions paid and dividends paid, investment income, pure premium data adjusted for loss development and loss trending, profits, and all other data and information used by that insurer in formulating its workers' compensation rates which are used in this state and any other information or data required by the Commissioner. In establishing and maintaining loss reserves, no workers' compensation insurer shall be allowed to maintain any excess loss reserve for any claim or potential claim for more than 90 days after the amount of liability for such claim or potential claim has been established, whether by final judgment, by settlement agreement, or otherwise. This limitation on the maintenance of loss reserves shall be enforced through this Code section, as well as through Code Section 33-9-23, relating to examination of admitted insurers, and any other appropriate enforcement procedures. The Commissioner is authorized to accept such rate classifications as are reasonable and necessary for compliance with this chapter. A rate filing required by this paragraph shall be updated by the insurer at least once every two years; and   As used in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the term "excess loss reserve" means any reserve amount in excess of the reserve required by law.     Any domestic, foreign, or alien insurer that is authorized to write insurance in this state must file with the Commissioner any rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule for all personal private passenger motor vehicle insurance:   For private passenger motor vehicle insurance providing only the mandatory minimum limits required by Code Section 33-34-4 and subsection (a) of Code Section 40-9-37, no such rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule shall become effective, nor may any premium be collected by any insurer thereunder, unless the filing has been received by the Commissioner in his or her office and such filing has been approved by the Commissioner or a period of 45 days has elapsed from the date such filing was received by the Commissioner during which time such filing has not been disapproved by the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall be authorized to extend such 45 day period by no more than 55 days at his or her discretion. If a filing is disapproved, notice of such disapproval order shall be given within 100 days of receipt of filing by the Commissioner, specifying in what respects such filing fails to meet the requirements of this chapter. The filer shall be given a hearing upon written request made within 30 days after the issuance of the disapproval order, and such hearing shall commence within 30 days after such request unless postponed by mutual consent. Such hearing, once commenced, may be postponed or recessed by the Commissioner only for weekends, holidays, or after normal working hours or at any time by mutual consent of all parties to the hearing. The Commissioner may also, at his or her discretion, recess any hearing for not more than two recess periods of up to 15 consecutive days each. In connection with any hearing or judicial review with respect to the approval or disapproval of such rates, the burden of persuasion shall fall upon the affected insurer or insurers to establish that the challenged rates are adequate, not excessive, and not unfairly discriminatory. After such a hearing, the Commissioner must affirm, modify, or reverse his or her previous action within the time period provided in subsection (a) of Code Section 33-2-23 relative to orders of the Commissioner. The requirement of approval or disapproval of a rate filing by the Commissioner under this subsection shall not prohibit actions by the Commissioner regarding compliance of such rate filing with the requirements of Code Section 33-9-4 brought after such approval or disapproval.   For personal private passenger motor vehicle insurance other than that described in this subsection, such rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule for all such personal private passenger motor vehicle insurance shall be effective upon filing and shall be implemented without approval of the Commissioner. This subsection shall apply to the entire personal private passenger motor vehicle insurance policy with limits above the mandatory minimum required by Code Section 33-34-4 and subsection (a) of Code Section 40-9-37 and shall apply to the entire personal private passenger motor vehicle policy with minimum limits if such policy has any additional nonmandatory coverage or coverages.     When a rate filing of an insurer required under paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of this Code section is not accompanied by the information upon which the insurer supports the filing and the Commissioner does not have sufficient information to determine whether the filing meets the requirements of this chapter, then the Commissioner shall request in writing, within 20 days of the date he or she receives the filing, the specifics of such additional information as he or she requires, and the insurer shall be required to furnish such information, and in such event the 45 day period provided for in paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of this Code section shall commence as of the date such information is furnished.   Any domestic, foreign, or alien insurer that is authorized to write insurance in this state must file with the Commissioner any rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule at least 45 days prior to any indicated effective date for all insurance other than personal private passenger motor vehicle insurance.No rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule required to be filed under this subsection will become effective, nor may any premium be collected by any insurer thereunder, unless the filing has been received by the Commissioner in his office not less than 45 days prior to its effective date.   When a rate filing of an insurer required under subsection (d) of this Code section results in any overall rate increase of 10 percent or more within any 12 month period, the Commissioner shall order an examination of that insurer to determine the accuracy of the claim reserves, the applicability of the claim reserve practices for the loss data used in support of such filing, and any other component of the rate filing; provided, however, that in the event the overall increase is less than 25 percent within any 12 month period and the Commissioner affirmatively determines that he or she has sufficient information to evaluate such rate increase and that the cost thereof would not be justified, he or she may waive all or part of such examination.In all other rate filings required under subsection (d) of this Code section, the Commissioner may order an examination of that insurer as provided in this subsection.Such examination shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 2 of this title. Upon notification by the Commissioner of his or her intent to conduct such examination, the insurer shall be prohibited from placing the rates so filed in effect until such examination has been reviewed and certified by the Commissioner as being complete. Such examination, if conducted by the Commissioner, shall be reviewed and certified within 90 days of the date such rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule is filed; provided, however, that if the Commissioner makes an affirmative finding that the examination may not be completed within the 90 day period, he or she may extend such time for one additional 60 day period.Any examination required under this Code section shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 2 of this title.   Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (d) of this Code section, in the event the filing of any rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule under subsection (d) of this Code section is not necessary, in the judgment of the Commissioner, to accomplish the purposes of this chapter as set forth in Code Section 33-9-1, then the Commissioner may exempt all domestic, foreign, and alien insurers from being required to file such rate, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule.   Filings required pursuant to this Code section shall be accompanied by a fee or fees as provided in Code Section 33-8-1.    (Code 1933, § 56-522.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1967, p. 684, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 2073, § 2; Ga. L. 1980, p. 1063, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 644, § 3; Ga. L. 1983, p. 629, §§ 2, 3; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 33; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 33; Ga. L. 1987, p. 870, § 2; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1409, § 16; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1608, § 1.6; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2725, § 17; Ga. L. 1994, p. 647, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 705, § 4; Ga. L. 2008, p. 1192, § 4/SB 276; Ga. L. 2009, p. 42, § 2/SB 76; Ga. L. 2019, p. 337, § 1-48/SB 132; Ga. L. 2020, p. 493, § 33/SB 429.)    The 2019 amendment,  effective July 1, 2019, in paragraph (a)(2), deleted ", not later than July 30, 1990," following "Shall require" at the beginning of the first sentence, deleted "premium" preceding "rates" in the first, second and third sentences, inserted "admitted" following "examination of" in the fifth sentence, and deleted ", the initial two-year period to be calculated from July 30, 1990" following "two years" at the end; and, in paragraph (b)(2), inserted "personal" preceding "private passenger" in four places and substituted "this subsection" for "paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Code Section 33-9-21" in the first sentence.    The 2020 amendment,  effective July 29, 2020, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "provided, however, that the Commissioner" for "provided, however, the Commissioner" in the proviso in the second sentence of subsection (a); and substituted "provided, however, that if the Commissioner" for "provided, however, if the Commissioner" in the next-to-last sentence of subsection (e).   Cross references.   - Management and public inspection of state documents, T. 50, C. 18.   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 1982, p. 644, § 3, which amended this Code section and which was to have taken effect January 1, 1984, was repealed by Ga. L. 1983, p. 629, § 3, effective March 16, 1983. However, since the 1983 Act amended this Code section "as amended by said 1982 Act," the restated language of this Code section in the 1983 Act reflected many of the changes effected by the 1982 Act.   Ga. L. 1991, p. 1608, § 3.2, not codified by the General Assembly, effective April 17, 1991, provides: "(a) Each insurer shall file its proposed forms, manuals, underwriting rules, rates, and rating plans for coverages under motor vehicle insurance policies to be issued, issued for delivery, delivered, or renewed on and after October 1, 1991, with the Commissioner of Insurance for such examination and approval as is required by law. The Commissioner shall not approve such filings unless such filings contain optional medical payments coverage. Rates and rating plans for motor vehicle insurance coverages filed pursuant to this subsection shall reflect a reduction of the rates or rating plans for such coverages on file with the Commissioner as of January 28, 1991, of not less than 15 percent, as compared to rates in effect for coverages required to be offered by the former 'Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Reparations Act,' with the exception of physical damage coverages, as specified in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of former Code Section 33-34-5 and third-party property damage coverages. On October 1, 1991, the Commissioner shall reduce by 15 percent or such higher amount as he determines appropriate, after notice and hearing as required by law, any rate or rating plan for such coverages under motor vehicle insurance policies for which no filing has been received.   "(b) Any insurer aggrieved by the rate filing required pursuant to subsection (a) of this section may petition the Commissioner for a hearing to grant relief from the rate filing as the result of extraordinary circumstances. The insurer shall have the burden of proof to establish the extraordinary circumstances which justify relief. A hearing conducted pursuant to this subsection shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 2 of Title 33. Upon conclusion of any hearing conducted pursuant to this subsection, the Commissioner shall enter an order specifying the rates to be used by the insurer and shall indicate in his order all factors entering into a decision to relieve the insurer from full compliance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section."   Administrative Rules and Regulations.   - Workers' compensation insurance statistical agent - Forms and rating plans, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Comptroller General, Commissioner of Insurance, Chapter 120-2-36.   Georgia workers' compensation insurance rate filings, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Florida, Rules of Comptroller General, Commissioner of Insurance, Chapter 120-2-37.   Law reviews.   - For survey article on insurance law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 191 (2008).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Commissioner has discretion to give greatest weight to the information that the Commissioner considers most valuable; this includes the discretion to consider composite filings as advisory or as "benchmark" filings against individual filings. Caldwell v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 248 Ga. 282, 282 S.E.2d 885 (1981).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Filed copyrighted materials may be copied without infringement.   - Copying of copyrighted manuals, rates, and rules which must be filed with the Insurance Commissioner would not constitute an unfair use and hence would not amount to an infringement, but to the contrary would constitute a fair use and one within the purpose for which the filing was made with the Commissioner. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-178 (rendered under former Code 1933, §§ 56-504a and 56-504b, repealed by Ga. L. 1967, p. 684).   Offer of group rate valid when offered under statutory standards.    - A filing which purports to offer insurance rates on a group basis does not violate O.C.G.A. § 33-6-5(4) when the rates are derived on the basis of rate-making considerations and standards set forth in O.C.G.A. § 33-9-4. 1984 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 84-88.