Tag: insurance news

Richard Lara Elected To Head State Insurance Department 

November 13, 2018

Democratic State Senator Ricardo Lara of Los Angeles will be the next Insurance Commissioner of California, according to final returns reported by the Secretary of State.  With 100% of all precincts reporting, Sen. Lara had 50.8 percent (3,393,189) of the vote; former Commissioner Steve Poizner, running as an independent, had 49.2 percent (3,287,452).

“As California’s Insurance Commissioner, I’ll work tirelessly to represent the great people of California, not the corporations, the billionaire class, the pharmaceutical or the insurance companies,” the Commissioner-elect pledged on his campaign website (www.ricardolara.com).  “I plan to work with anybody who is willing to come to the table, but my allegiance will always be first and foremost to the consumers, the patients, our working families, and our most vulnerable communities in our Golden State.”

 

To read the full article from IIABCal’s Independent Insider newsletter, click here.

SB 189 effective July 1, 2018

March 29, 2018

On July 1st, 2018, Senate Bill 189 (SB 189) will officially come into effect in its entirety. A small portion of SB 189 was effective 01/01/18 which allowed insurance carriers to backdate officer exclusion waivers if they met certain parameters. That backdate period has ended and the rest of the SB 189 language will come into effect on 07/01/18 for policies incepting or renewing on 07/01/18 and thereafter. SB 189 will not affect all policyholders on 07/01/18 like AB 2883 did on 01/01/17.

 

Click here to read a bulletin from the WCIRB in conjunction with the Department of Insurance which clearly lays out the upcoming changes for SB 189 on 07/01/18 along with frequently asked questions answered by the DOI.  Below are highlights of some of the changes and guidelines:

 

  • Revocable Trusts (trustee): a person holding the power to revoke a trust with respect to shares of a private corporation held in trust, or general partnership or limited liability company interests held in trust will be eligible for exclusion
  • Corporations: the stock ownership requirement for an officer to be eligible for exclusion is being lowered from 15% to 10%
  • Corporations and the “family rule”: if an officer owns at least 1% of the issued and outstanding stock of the corporation and has health insurance coverage and his or her parent, grandparent, sibling, spouse or child owns at least 10% of the stock of the corporation- that individual would be eligible for exclusion.
  • Professional Corporations: an owner of a professional corporation will be eligible for exclusion if they are covered by a health insurance plan and if they sign an officer exclusion waiver
  • Backdating: Carriers will have the ability to backdate waivers up to 15 days prior to the date of receipt of the waiver
  • LLCs and Partnerships: only Managing Members and General Partners are eligible for exclusion

 

Click here to read the complete legal text of SB-189. Please maintain this information for reference as we begin to work on 07/01/18 accounts that will be impacted by SB-189. Let Steve Gutilla Jr. know if you have any questions.