(a) Any insurer currently doing business in the state that sold life, property, liability, health, annuities, dowry, educational, or casualty insurance policies, directly or through a related company, to persons in Europe, which were in effect between 1920 and 1945, whether the sale occurred before or after the insurer and the related company became related, shall, within 180 days following enactment of this act, file or cause to be filed the following information with the commissioner to be entered into the registry:

(1) The number of those insurance policies.

(2) The holder, beneficiary, and current status of those policies.

(3) The city of origin, domicile, or address for each policyholder listed in the policies.

(b) In addition, each insurer subject to subdivision (a) shall certify to any of the following:

(1) That the proceeds of the policies described in subdivision (a) have been paid to the designated beneficiaries or their heirs where that person or persons, after diligent search, could be located and identified.

(2) That the proceeds of the policies where the beneficiaries or heirs could not, after diligent search, be located or identified, have been distributed to Holocaust survivors or to qualified charitable nonprofit organizations for the purpose of assisting Holocaust survivors.

(3) That a court of law has certified in a legal proceeding resolving the rights of unpaid policyholders, their heirs, and beneficiaries, a plan for the distribution of the proceeds.

(4) That the proceeds have not been distributed and the amount of those proceeds.

An insurer who certifies as true any material matter pursuant to this subdivision, which the insurer knows to be false, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(c) An insurer currently doing business in the state that did not sell any insurance policies in Europe prior to 1945, shall not be subject to this section if a related company, whether or not authorized and currently doing business in the state, has made a filing under this section.

(Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 827, Sec. 2. Effective October 10, 1999.)