(a) There shall be continued in the District a department charged with the execution of the laws relating to insurance, to be called the “Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking.” At the head of such Department there shall be a Commissioner of the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking, who shall devote his entire service to the Department. He shall be appointed by and hold his office at the pleasure of the Mayor. The Commissioner, during his term of office, shall not be interested in the business of any insurance company except as a policyholder. He shall take and subscribe an oath of office which shall be filed with the Mayor. In said Department there shall be also 2 Deputy Commissioners and such other personnel as may be necessary within appropriations annually made by Congress for said Department. The compensation of the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioners, and other personnel shall be fixed in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 51 and subchapter III of Chapter 53 of Title 5, United States Code [5 U.S.C. § 5101 et seq. and 5 U.S.C. § 5331 et seq.].

(b) In case of the absence or inability of the Commissioner, or in the event of the removal of the Commissioner, and pending the appointment of his successor, one of the Deputy Commissioners shall perform the duties of the Commissioner.

(c) The Mayor shall provide the Department with an official seal, which shall be the seal of the District of Columbia surrounded by a border in which shall appear “Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking.”

(d) Every certificate and other document or paper executed by such Commissioner, or his deputies, in pursuance of any authority conferred upon him by law and sealed with the seal of his office, and all copies of papers certified by him or by his deputies and authenticated by said seal, shall, in all cases, be evidence equally and in like manner as the original thereof and shall have the same force and effect as would the original in any suit or proceeding in any court of this District.

(e) The office of the Commissioner shall be a public office, and the records, books, and papers thereof on file therein shall be public records of the District, except as it may be provided otherwise herein.

(f) The Commissioner shall report annually to the Mayor his official transactions, and shall include in such report abstracts of the annual statements of the several companies and an exhibit of the financial condition and business transactions of the same as shown by their annual statements. He shall also include therein a statement of the receipts and expenditures of the Department for the preceding year and such recommendations relative to insurance and the insurance laws of the District as he shall deem proper.

(g) The Commissioner is authorized to attend and participate in the meetings of the National Convention of Insurance Commissioners and of the committees thereof; he is also authorized to visit the insurance departments of the various states when in his judgment such visits are necessary for the proper conduct of his official office; and he may require such of his assistants as he may designate to attend and participate in such meetings, all subject to the prior approval of the Mayor. The actual expense of such attendance by the Commissioner and his assistants shall be paid in like manner as other expenses of the District are paid.

(June 19, 1934, 48 Stat. 1129, ch. 672, ch. II, § 1; Oct. 28, 1949, 63 Stat. 972, ch. 782, title XI, § 1106(a); May 21, 1997, D.C. Law 11-268, § 10(i), 44 DCR 1730; Mar. 24, 1998, D.C. Law 12-81, § 22(a), 45 DCR 745; June 11, 2004, D.C. Law 15-166, § 4(bb), 51 DCR 2817; Mar. 2, 2007, D.C. Law 16-191, § 55, 53 DCR 6794.)

1981 Ed., § 35-401.

1973 Ed., § 35-401.

This section is referenced in § 31-3503.

D.C. Law 15-166, in subsecs. (a) and (c), substituted “Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking” for “Department of Insurance and Securities Regulation”; and, in subsec. (a), substituted “Commissioner of the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking” for “Commissioner of Insurance and Securities”.

D.C. Law 16-191, in subsec. (c), validated a previously made technical correction.

Application of chapter to existing companies, see § 31-4420.

Hospital and medical services corporations, applicability of this section, see § 31-3503.

For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 4(bb) of Consolidation of Financial Services Emergency Amendment Act of 2004 (D.C. Act 15-381, February 27, 2004, 51 DCR 2653).

Department of Insurance abolished: The Department of Insurance, including the Superintendent, was abolished and the functions thereof transferred to the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia by Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1952. Reorganization Order No. 43, dated June 23, 1953, as amended, established, under the direction and control of a Commissioner, a Department of Insurance headed by a Superintendent. The Order provided for the organization of the Department, abolished the previously existing Department of Insurance, and provided that all functions and positions of the previous Department would be transferred to the new Department of Insurance, including the duties, powers, and authorities of all officers and employees; and that all personnel, property, records and unexpended balances relating to the functions and positions transferred would also be transferred to the new Department. The executive functions of the Board of Commissioners were transferred to the Commissioner of the District of Columbia by § 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967. The functions of the Superintendent of Insurance were transferred to the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1983, effective March 31, 1983. Pursuant to the provisions of D.C. Law 11-268, the Department of Insurance and Securities Regulation was established and the duties of the Superintendent of Insurance and the Insurance Administration were assumed by the Commissioner of Insurance and Securities, and the Insurance Administration in the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs was abolished.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Governmental Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.