§1476. Assessments against insurers; dedications

A.(1) Sufficient funds determined by the commissioner of insurance shall be provided by all insurers doing business in this state and subject to this Subpart, by the payment of an assessment to be levied against them by the commissioner in proportion to their gross direct premiums received in this state in the preceding year, less returned premiums. No such assessment shall exceed one percent of such premiums.

NOTE: Paragraph (A)(2) eff. until July 1, 2020. See Acts 2018, No. 612.

(2) An amount equal to two and one-fourth hundredths of one percent of the gross direct premiums received in this state, in the preceding year; two and thirty-seven hundredths of one percent of the direct gross premiums received in this state, in the year 2001; and two and one-half hundredths of one percent of the direct gross premiums received in the state, in the year 2003 and every year thereafter by insurers doing business in this state and subject to this Subpart, less returned premiums shall be deposited by the commissioner of insurance with the state treasurer to be credited to a special fund created in the state treasury entitled the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Operating Fund, hereinafter known as the "fund". Subject to an annual appropriation by the legislature pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 33:2480 and 2540, monies in the fund shall be used solely to support the operations of the office of state examiner, Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service. Monies in the fund shall be invested by the treasurer in the same manner as monies in the state general fund and interest earned on investment of these monies shall be credited to the state general fund. All unexpended and unencumbered monies in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall revert to the state general fund.

NOTE: Paragraph (A)(2) eff. July 1, 2020. See Acts 2018, No. 612.

(2) In every year, an amount equal to two and one-half hundredths of one percent of the direct gross premiums received in the state, by insurers doing business in this state and subject to this Subpart, less returned premiums shall be deposited by the commissioner of insurance with the state treasurer to be credited to a special agency account, created in the state treasury entitled the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Operating Account, to be known as the " account". Subject to an annual appropriation by the legislature pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 33:2480 and 2540, monies in the account shall be used solely to support the operations of the office of state examiner, Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service. Monies in the account shall be invested by the treasurer in the same manner as monies in the state general fund and interest earned on investment of these monies shall be credited to the state general fund. All unexpended and unencumbered monies in the account at the end of the fiscal year shall remain in the account. Funding deposited into the account shall be considered fees and self-generated revenues and shall be available for annual appropriations by the legislature.

(3) Regardless of the percentage assessed by the commissioner of insurance, an amount equal to seven-tenths of one percent of the gross direct premiums received in this state, in the preceding year, by insurers doing business in this state and subject to this Subpart, less returned premiums shall be deposited by the commissioner with the state treasurer on behalf of the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System, the Sheriffs' Pension and Relief Fund, and the Firefighters' Retirement System for the exclusive use of these retirement systems and allocated as follows:

(a)(i) First, the assessment shall be used for funding of mergers of local retirement systems with these statewide retirement systems, such mergers to be funded over a period of thirty years, unless the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee deems a shorter period appropriate. Such shorter period shall not use more than five percent of the total assessment in any one year, nor shall the aggregate of all mergers being funded in any one year use more than twenty-five percent of the total assessment in any one year.

(ii) One million five hundred thousand dollars of the twenty-five percent of the total assessment which is allocated for the purpose of mergers shall be expended first to fund the annual actuarial cost incurred by the State Police Pension and Retirement System with regard to implementation of Acts 2001, No. 1160, and this one million five hundred thousand dollars shall be expended prior to the funding of any mergers.

(b)(i) Second, any funds that remain after the allocations provided for in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph shall be used as provided for in Item (ii) of this Subparagraph, in meeting the remaining portion of the actuarially required contributions after receipt of the employee contributions at the rate established in R.S. 11:62(3), (6), and (9), after receipt of the employer contributions at the rate established in R.S. 11:103(C), and after receipt of all dedicated funds and taxes referred to in R.S. 11:103(C)(2)(a), in the amounts determined by the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee.

(ii)(aa) Any funds that remain after the allocations provided for in Subparagraph (3)(a) of this Paragraph shall be divided into three thirds and, then, a one-third portion shall be allocated separately to each of the three systems. Except as otherwise provided in this Item, each such system shall not receive a greater portion than one-third.

(bb) It is hereby acknowledged that any one system may not need the entire one-third portion that it receives each year to meet the remaining portion of its actuarially required contributions. In that event, any unused allocated funds shall be reallocated to such other system or systems of the three systems that have a need for additional funds to meet the remaining portion of the actuarially required contributions.

(cc) If one system does not need its total annual allocated portion, but two other systems do use their total annual allocated portions to meet the remaining portion of the actuarially required contributions and need additional funds for that purpose, then the unused allocated portion of the system that did not use its total annual allocated portion shall be divided equally between the two systems that need additional funds to meet the remaining portion of their actuarially required contributions, except that any funds not needed by either such system shall be reallocated to the other such system to meet the remaining portion of the actuarially required contributions.

(dd) Funds that are reallocated to a system pursuant to Subitem (bb) or (cc) of this Item shall be limited to the amount that is necessary to meet the remaining portion of the actuarially required contributions of the receiving system.

(c) The phrase "retirement system" or "system" as used in Paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of this Subsection shall include the Sheriffs' Pension and Retirement Fund, as applicable, notwithstanding that it is technically a retirement fund and not a retirement system.

(4) After payment of the amounts established by the Public Retirement Systems' Actuarial Committee to the retirement systems as provided for in Paragraph (3) of this Subsection, all remaining funds shall be remitted to the state general fund.

(5) Any insurer which has not had one full year of experience immediately preceding said assessment, shall pay a sum to be fixed by the commissioner of insurance, and the following years its proportion shall be based upon its estimated premiums for the current year, subject to revision at the end of the year in accordance with the gross premiums received by said insurer, as hereinabove provided.

B. The expenses of the commissioner of insurance shall be met by an annual assessment on each insurer subject to this Subpart on the direct premiums, less return premiums, developed by it from the rates subject to regulation. The amount of such assessment shall be determined by the commissioner, but no such assessment shall exceed one percent of such premiums.

C. The expense fund so created shall be subject to the sole control of the commissioner of insurance, but shall be subject to budgetary controls as authorized in Title 39 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950; provided, however, that all surplus funds presently in said fund shall be immediately remitted to the general fund of the state and provided further that all surplus funds at the end of each fiscal year hereafter shall be remitted to the general fund of the state.

Acts 1958, No. 125. Amended by Acts 1960, No. 296, §1; Acts 1962, No. 10, §1; Acts 1972, No. 119, §1; Acts 1973, No. 188, §1; Acts 1974, No. 323, §1; Acts 1979, No. 434, §2; Acts 1980, No. 799, §4, eff. Aug. 1, 1980; Acts 1991, No. 397, §2, eff. July 1, 1991; Acts 1992, No. 497, §1, eff. July 1, 1992; Acts 1999, No. 931, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1160, §2, eff. July 1, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 456, §1; Acts 2007, No. 459, §4, eff. Jan. 1, 2008; Redesignated from R.S. 22:1419 by Acts 2008, No. 415, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2009, No. 226, §13(A), eff. June 30, 2009; Acts 2018, No. 612, §6, eff. July 1, 2020.

NOTE: Former R.S. 22:1476 redesignated as R.S. 22:1896 by Acts 2008, No. 415, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009.

NOTE: Acts 2009, No. 226, §13(A), eff. June 30, 2009, provides that the state treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to transfer Two Hundred Fifty-Nine Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty Dollars from the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Operating fund to the Overcollections Fund (R.S. 39:100.21).