2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title II - Executive and Administrative Officers of the Commonwealth › Chapter 26 - Department of Banking and Insurance › Section 8f - Assessments by Insurance Companies; Amount; Annual Estimates of Earned Car Years

Section 8F. The commissioner of insurance is hereby authorized to require each insurance company issuing private passenger motor vehicle liability policies in the commonwealth to collect an assessment to be utilized by the attorney general for the purposes set forth under the provisions of section eleven F of chapter twelve. Said assessment shall be such amounts as shall be determined and certified annually by the commissioner of insurance as sufficient to produce one million one hundred fifty-one thousand five hundred and forty-two dollars in revenue to the commonwealth, plus the total amount of funds estimated by the secretary of administration and finance to be expended from the general fund for indirect and fringe benefit costs, including but not limited to group life and health insurance, retirement benefits, paid vacations and holidays, and sick leave, attributable to personnel costs of the attorney general's office related to the purposes for which this assessment is collected, and shall be assessed as determined by the commissioner against each private passenger motor vehicle liability policy issued in the commonwealth.
The commissioner shall annually estimate the total number of earned car years of motor vehicle policies providing private passenger motor vehicle liability coverage in the commonwealth, and the amount to be assessed equally against such earned car year of exposure sufficient to produce one million one hundred fifty-one thousand five hundred and forty-two dollars in revenue to the commonwealth, plus the total amount of funds estimated by the secretary of administration and finance to be expended from the general fund for indirect and fringe benefit costs including but not limited to group life and health insurance, retirement benefits, paid vacations and holidays, and sick leave, attributable to personnel costs of the attorney general's office related to the purposes for which this assessment is collected. Each insurer issuing private passenger motor vehicle liability policies shall collect the amount determined by the commissioner to be assessed from each person to whom a private passenger motor vehicle liability policy is issued. In any year in which such rates are fixed and established pursuant to section one hundred and thirteen B of chapter one hundred and seventy-five, the commissioner shall make a specific provision in the expense allowance in private passenger motor vehicle liability rates which shall be adequate to allow this assessment to be recovered in such rates by each insurer. In any year in which such rates are determined by any other method, this assessment shall be approved by the commissioner in the expense allowance for private passenger motor vehicle liability rates. Such assessments shall not be reported or included as premiums for any tax or regulatory purposes. If the attorney general fails to expend in any fiscal year the total amount of one million one hundred fifty-one thousand five hundred and forty-two dollars for the purposes set forth under the provisions of section eleven F of chapter twelve, the amount assessed in such fiscal year shall be reduced by such unexpended amount.
The commissioner is authorized to estimate the amount to be collected by each insurer issuing private passenger motor vehicle liability policies based on the number of earned car years of private passenger motor vehicle liability exposure in the prior year, and require each such insurer to remit such estimated amount to the commonwealth. The commissioner shall subsequently notify each insurer of the actual amount of assessment required to be forwarded to the commonwealth based on each insurer's total earned car years of private passenger motor vehicle liability exposures. The commissioner shall make appropriate adjustments for any variation between the estimated amount assessed and the actual amount collected by each insurer.