Page 22,
line 9, after the comma insert "from and after December 31,
2021,"
Page 23,
line 41, strike "Notwithstanding any other law"
insert "Subject to the restrictions prescribed in section
20‑299"
Page 25,
line 2, after the period insert "Subject to the
restrictions prescribed in section 20‑299,"
Page 63,
between lines 20 and 21, insert:
"Sec. 56. Section
20-485, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE20-485. Definitions;
scope
A. In
this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Administrator"
means any person who collects charges or premiums from or paid on behalf of, or
who adjusts or settles claims by, residents of this state in connection with
life or health insurance coverage or annuities other than any of the following:
(a) An
employer on behalf of the employer's employees or the employees of one or more
subsidiary or affiliated corporations of the employer.
(b) A
union on behalf of its members.
(c) An
insurer authorized to transact insurance in this state, including its employees
and sales representatives, to the extent that it collects charges or premiums
from or paid on behalf of, or adjusts or settles claims by, residents of this
state in connection with life or health insurance coverage or annuities
lawfully issued and delivered or assumed in this state and pursuant to the laws
of this state or another state and for which the insurer or an affiliated
insurer is presently directly liable.
(d) An
insurer authorized to transact insurance in this state, including its employees
and sales representatives, to the extent that it collects charges or premiums
from or paid on behalf of, or adjusts or settles claims by, residents of this
state in connection with life or health insurance coverage or annuities
lawfully issued and delivered or assumed in this state and pursuant to the laws
of this state or another state and for which an unaffiliated insurer is
presently directly liable.
(e) A
person other than an insurer, to the extent that the person's activities are
limited to the collection of charges or premiums from or paid on behalf of, or
the adjustment or settlement of claims by, residents of this state in
connection with life and health insurance coverage issued and delivered or
assumed by an affiliated insurer authorized to transact insurance in this state
and for which the affiliated insurer is presently directly liable.
(f) A
life or disability insurance producer who is licensed in this state or an
employee of a licensed producer working at the direction and under the
supervision of a licensed producer if the producer or the producer's employee
does not adjust or settle claims.
(g) A
creditor on behalf of the creditor's debtors with respect to insurance covering
a debt between the creditor and its debtors.
(h) A
trust and its trustees, agents and employees acting pursuant to the trust
established in conformity with 29 United States Code section 186.
(i) A
trust exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of the internal revenue code
and its trustees and employees acting pursuant to the trust, or a custodian and
its agents and employees acting pursuant to a custodian account that meets the
requirements of section 401(f) of the internal revenue code.
(j) A
financial institution or money transmitter that is subject to supervision or
examination by federal or state banking authorities if the financial
institution or money transmitter does not adjust or settle claims.
(k) A
credit card issuing company that advances for and collects premiums or charges
from its credit card holders who have authorized such collection, if the
company does not adjust or settle claims.
(l) A
person who adjusts or settles claims in the normal course of the person's
practice or employment as an attorney and who does not collect charges or
premiums in connection with life or health insurance coverage or annuities.
(m) An
adjuster who is licensed in this state while acting in accordance with an
adjuster's license.
(n) A
person who acts only as an administrator of one or more bona fide employee
benefit plans established by an employer or an employee organization, or both,
for which the insurance laws of this state are preempted pursuant to the
employee retirement income security act of 1974 (P.L. 93‑406; 88 Stat.
829; 29 United States Code sections 1001 through 1461).
(o) A
credit card processing company that processes payments or charges for premiums
if the company does not adjust or settle claims.
(p) A
qualified marketplace platform on behalf of qualified marketplace contractors
that have executed a written contract with the qualified marketplace platform
that complies with the requirements of section 23‑1603, subsection A.
(q) An
employee of the group policyholder who collects or remits premiums for group
life insurance, group annuities or group or blanket disability insurance if the
person does not adjust claims or receive any commissions.
(r) An
administrator of a trust that was established to provide life insurance,
disability insurance or annuities to participants in the trust and that is also
a group policyholder. The administrator may act only as an administrator of
the trust and may not adjust or settle claims.
2. "Affiliate"
or "affiliated" means a person who directly, or indirectly through
one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by or is under common
control with a specified person.
3. "Charges"
means cost sharing requirements, including applicable coinsurance, copayments,
deductibles or other amounts payable by an insured under the terms of an
insurance contract.
3. 4. "Control"
means the direct or ultimate possession of the power to direct or cause the
direction of the management and policies of a person whether through voting
rights, contracts, other than commercial contracts for goods or nonmanagement
services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position
or corporate office. Control exists if any person, directly or
indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote or holds proxies
representing ten percent or more of the voting rights of any other person,
including the right to elect or appoint the officers or directors of a
nonprofit corporation.
4. 5. "Insurer"
means any person who provides life or health insurance coverage in this state
or who transacts annuity business in this state. Insurer includes an
authorized insurer, hospital, medical, dental or optometric service corporation
or health care services organization or any other person providing a plan of
insurance subject to the laws of insurance of this state. Insurer
does not include a self‑insured or a self‑funded employee benefit
plan if regulation of that plan is preempted pursuant to section 1144(a) of the
employee retirement income security act of 1974 (29 United States Code section
1144(a)) but does include an insurer who provides coverage as part of an
employee benefit plan.
5. 6. "Principal"
means a person who has the authority to enter into written agreements on behalf
of the administrator pursuant to section 20‑485.01.
6. 7. "Qualified
marketplace contractor":
(a) Means
any person or organization, including an individual, corporation, limited
liability company, partnership, sole proprietor or other entity, that enters
into an agreement with a qualified marketplace platform to use the qualified
marketplace platform's digital platform to provide services to third-party
individuals or entities seeking those services.
(b) Does
not include a contractor if the services performed consist of transporting
freight, sealed and closed envelopes, boxes or parcels or other sealed and
closed containers for compensation.
7. 8. "Qualified
marketplace platform":
(a) Means
an organization, including a corporation, limited liability company,
partnership, sole proprietor or other entity, that both:
(i) Operates
a digital website or digital smartphone application that facilitates the
provision of services by qualified marketplace contractors to individuals or
entities seeking those services.
(ii) Accepts
service requests from the public only through its digital website or digital
smartphone application and does not accept service requests by telephone, by
fax or in person at physical retail locations.
(b) Does
not include any digital website or smartphone application if the services
facilitated consist of transporting freight, sealed and closed envelopes, boxes
or parcels or other sealed and closed containers for compensation.
B. To
the extent that an insurer is subject to subsection A, paragraph 1, subdivision
(d) of this section, it shall comply with this article except sections 20‑485.10
and 20‑485.12.
C. This
article does not apply to a person acting exclusively as a third party
intermediary entity as prescribed in section 20‑120.END_STATUTE
Sec. 57. Section
20-485.09, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE20-485.09. Adjustment
or settlement of claims or charges; compensation
A. Compensation to an administrator
for any policies where such administrator adjusts or settles claims shall in no way not be contingent on claim
experience. This section shall
subsection does not prevent the compensation of an administrator from
being based on premiums or charges collected or number of claims paid or
processed.
B. An
administrator may collect charges in accordance with the written agreement
between the administrator and the insurer. The written agreement must
prescribe the applicable standards for the permissible collection of charges by
the administrator. Unless the administrator is licensed as a collection agency
pursuant to title 32, chapter 9, the administrator may not collect charges that
have remained unpaid on an account that has been inactive for more than twelve
months." END_STATUTE
Renumber to
conform
Page 188, between
lines 22 and 23, insert:
"Sec. 144. Section
32-1004, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE32-1004. Exemptions
A. The
following persons are exempt from the provisions of this chapter when engaged
in the regular course of their respective businesses but shall comply with the
requirements of section 32‑1051, paragraphs 2 through 7 and section 32‑1055,
subsection C and subsection D, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5:
1. Attorneys‑at‑law.
2. A
person regularly employed on a regular wage or salary in the capacity of credit
person or a similar capacity, except as an independent contractor.
3. Banks,
including trust departments of a bank, fiduciaries and financing and lending
institutions.
4. Common
carriers.
5. Title
insurers, title insurance agents and abstract companies while doing an escrow
business.
6. Licensed
real estate brokers.
7. Employees
of licensees under this chapter.
8. Substation
payment offices employed by or serving as independent contractors or public
utilities.
9. A
person licensed pursuant to title 6, chapter 7.
10. A
person licensed pursuant to title 6, chapter 9.
11. A
person licensed pursuant to title 6, chapter 14, article 1.
12. A
participant in a finance transaction in which a lender receives the right to
collect commercial claims due the borrower by assignment, by purchase or by the
taking of a security interest in those commercial claims.
13. An
accounting, bookkeeping or billing service provider that complies with all of
the following:
(a) Does
not accept accounts that are contractually past due at the time of receipt.
(b) Does
not initiate any contact with individual debtors except for the initial written
notice of the amount owing and one written follow‑up notice.
(c) Does
not give or send to any debtor a written communication that requests or demands
payment.
(d) Does
not receive or have access to monies paid by debtors or their insurers.
(e) All
communications with the debtors are done in the name of the creditor.
14. A
person collecting claims owed, due or asserted to be owed or due to a financial
institution the deposits of which are insured by an agency of the federal
government, or any affiliate of the financial institution, if the person is
related by common ownership or affiliated by corporate control with the
financial institution and collects the claims only for the financial
institution or any affiliate of the financial institution.
15. A
person who is licensed pursuant to title 20, chapter 2, article 3, 3.1, 3.2,
3.3 or 3.5 and who is authorized to collect premiums under an insurance policy
financed by a premium finance agreement as defined in section 6‑1401.
16. A
person that is licensed pursuant to title 20, chapter 2, article 9, that is authorized
to act as an administrator for an insurer as defined in section 20‑485
and that collects charges pursuant to section 20‑485.09, subsection B.
B. For
the purposes of subsection A, paragraph 12 of this section:
1. A
transaction shall not be deemed a finance transaction if the primary purpose is
to facilitate the collection of claims.
2. Commercial
claim does not include an account arising from the purchase of a service or
product intended for personal, family or household use.
C. For
the purposes of subsection A, paragraph 13, subdivision (b) of this section,
the initial written notice and follow‑up notice may contain only the
following information:
1. The
name, address and telephone and telefacsimile numbers of the creditor.
2. The
amount due and an itemization of that amount.
3. The
date payment is due.
4. The
address or place where payment is to be made.
5. If
the payment is past due, that payment is past due.
D. For
a person who is exempt under subsection A, paragraph 14 of this section, the
superintendent shall investigate complaints of residents of this state relating
to any violations of section 32‑1051, paragraphs 2 through 7 or section
32‑1055, subsection C or subsection D, paragraph 1, 2, 3 or 5 and may
examine the books, accounts, claims and files of a person that relate to the
complaint. A person who is exempt and who violates the provisions of section
32‑1051, paragraphs 2 through 7 or section 32‑1055, subsection C or
subsection D, paragraph 1, 2, 3 or 5 is subject to the provisions of sections 6‑132,
6‑136 and 6‑137." END_STATUTE
Renumber to
conform
Page 257,
between lines 18 and 19, insert:
"Sec. 178. Rules; exemption
A. The
department of insurance and financial institutions shall adopt rules to
establish fees relating to direct and indirect costs in connection with
examinations pursuant to section 20‑142, Arizona Revised Statutes, as
amended by this act.
B. For
the purposes of this section, the department of insurance and financial
institutions is exempt from the rulemaking requirements of title 41, chapter 6,
Arizona Revised Statutes, for one year after the effective date of this
act."
Amend title to conform
Bill
Number: S.B. 1293