Chapter 43. Department of Insurance, Securities, And Banking with Respect to Life Companies.
§ 31–4301. Department continued; personnel; performance of Commissioner’s duties; seal; Commissioner’s office and papers to be public; Commissioner’s annual reports; out-of-state visits.
(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.
§ 31–4302. Collection of charges and fees.
(a) All charges and fees provided for in this section shall be collected by the Commissioner and made payable to the District of Columbia.
(b) For filing charter or articles of incorporation or association, or deed of settlement or copy thereof, required by law, $300; for each company certificate of authority, $200, renewal fee, $200; for license of each general agent, $100, renewal fee, $100; for license of each agent, or solicitor, $50, renewal fee $50; for license of each broker, $100, renewal fee, $100. For each appointment fee for each agent, general agent, or each solicitor, $25 fee, $25 renewal fee; provided, however, that beginning October 1, 1994, the license and renewal fee of each general agent, agent or solicitor, and broker shall be payable biennially in accordance with the rulemaking procedures in section 3(a)(2).
§ 31–4303. Disposition of excess in fees, charges, or taxes.
Whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that, because of some error, mistake, or erroneous interpretation of a statute, a company has paid fees, charges, or taxes in excess of the amount legally chargeable against it, the Commissioner shall, on application of the company, present the matter to the Mayor, with the view of refunding to such company any such excess, or applying the excess or portion thereof toward the payment of fees, charges, or taxes already due from such company.
§ 31–4304. Certificate of authority — Investigation of qualifications; effect; Issuance.
(a) The Commissioner shall issue a certificate of authority to a company when it shall have complied with the requirements of the laws of the District so as to be entitled to do business therein. The Commissioner may, however, satisfy himself by such investigation as he may consider proper or necessary that the company is duly qualified under the laws of the District to transact business therein, and may refuse to issue or renew a certificate to a company if the issuance or renewal of the certificate would adversely affect the public interest. In each case, the certificate shall be issued under the seal of the Commissioner, authorizing and empowering the company to transact the kind of business specified in the certificate, and the certificate shall expire on the 30th day of April next succeeding the date of its issuance.
(b) Repealed.
(c) No company shall transact any business of insurance in or from the District until it shall have received a certificate of authority as authorized by this section, and no company shall transact any business of insurance not specified in such certificate of authority.
§ 31–4305. Certificate of authority — Revocation or suspension; grounds; hearing; alternative penalty.
(a) The Commissioner shall have power to revoke or suspend the certificate of authority to transact business in the District of any company which has failed or refused to comply with any provision or requirement of this subdivision, or which:
(1) Is impaired in capital or surplus;
(2) Is insolvent;
(3) Is in such a condition that its further transaction of business in the District would be hazardous to its policyholders or creditors or to the public;
(4) Has refused or neglected to pay a valid final judgment against such company within 30 days after such judgment shall have become final either by expiration without appeal within the time when such appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmance on appeal;
(5) Has violated any law of the District or has in the District violated its charter or exceeded its corporate powers;
(6) Has refused to submit its books, papers, accounts, records, or affairs to the reasonable inspection or examination of the Commissioner, his Deputies, or duly appointed examiners;
(7) Has an officer who has refused upon reasonable demand to be examined under oath touching its affairs;
(8) Fails to file with the Commissioner a copy of an amendment to its charter or articles of association within 30 days after the effective date of such amendment;
(9) Has had its corporate existence dissolved or its certificate of authority revoked in the state in which it was organized;
(10) Has had all its risks reinsured in their entirety in another company, without prior approval of the Commissioner;
(11) Has made, issued, circulated, or caused to be issued or circulated any estimate, illustration, circular, or statement of any sort misrepresenting either its status or the terms of any policy issued or to be issued by it, or the benefits or advantages promised thereby, or the dividends or shares of the surplus to be received thereon, or has used any name or title of any policy or class of policies misrepresenting the true nature thereof;
(12) Has filed, caused to be filed, or failed to prevent the filing of, a statement on its behalf from an independent organization attesting to its qualifications to transact business in the District for which it sought and received a certificate of authority if it knew, or should have known, that the statement was based on false, misleading, or incomplete information; or
(13) Has filed, caused to be filed, or failed to prevent the filing of a statement on its behalf from a corporate officer attesting to its qualifications to transact business in the District for which it sought and received a certificate of authority if it knew, or should have known, that the statement was based on false, misleading, or incomplete information.
(b) The Commissioner shall not revoke or suspend the certificate of authority of any company until he has given the company not less than 30 days notice of the proposed revocation or suspension and of the grounds alleged therefor, and has afforded the company an opportunity for a full hearing; provided, that if the Commissioner shall find upon examination that the further transaction of business by the company would be hazardous to the public or to the policyholders or creditors of the company in the District, he may suspend such authority without giving notice as herein required; provided further, that in lieu of revoking or suspending the certificate of authority of any company for causes enumerated in this section, after hearing as herein provided, the Commissioner may subject such company to a penalty of not more than $10,000 for any violation or not more than $25,000 for intentional violations, when in his judgment he finds that the public interest would be best served by the continued operation of the company. The amount of any such penalty shall be paid by the company through the Office of the Commissioner to the Collector of Taxes of the District of Columbia. At any hearing provided by this section, the Commissioner shall have authority to administer oaths to witnesses. Anyone testifying falsely after having been administered such an oath shall be subject to the penalties of perjury.
§ 31–4306. Annual financial statement — Forms to be furnished by Superintendent. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4307. Annual financial statement — Companies required to file; failure to file; publication of summary [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4308. Companies or agents not to make or publish false statements. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4309. Representation of financial standing—All companies or agents. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4310. Representation of financial standing — Alien companies; violations.
(a) Every advertisement or public announcement and every sign, circular, or card issued by an alien company doing business in the District, representing its financial standing, shall exhibit as capital stock and assets only the capital stock and assets held by its United States branch, the liabilities, including therein the premium and loss reserves required by law, and the amount of surplus, and shall correspond to the next preceding verified statement made by such company to the Commissioner; provided, however, that this section shall not be deemed to prevent an alien company from furnishing to its policyholders in the District of Columbia its annual report to policyholders of its domicile. This subsection shall not apply to an alien company which maintains in the United States, as required by law, assets held in trust for the benefit of the United States policyholders in an amount not less than the sum of its required capital deposit and the amount of its outstanding liabilities arising out of its insurance transactions in the United States.
(b) Any violation of this section or § 31-4309 [repealed] shall be a misdemeanor, and any person convicted of such violation shall, for the 1st offense, be liable to a fine of not more than $500, and for each subsequent offense shall be liable to a fine of not more than $1,000.
§ 31–4311. Defamatory or injurious false statements against companies. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4312. Commissioner authorized to issue subpoenas; enforcement.
(a) In the examination of any company as provided for in this subdivision, the Commissioner shall have power to issue subpoenas in the name of the Chief Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to compel witnesses to appear and testify and/or to produce all books, records, papers, or documents before said Commissioner.
(b) If any witness having been personally summoned shall neglect or refuse to obey the subpoena issued as herein provided, then and in that event the Commissioner may report that fact to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, or one of the judges thereof, and said Court, or any judge thereof, hereby is empowered to compel obedience to said subpoena to the same extent as witnesses may be compelled to obey the subpoenas of that Court.
§ 31–4313. Enforcement of Commissioner’s orders or actions.
The Commissioner may, through the Corporation Counsel of the District, invoke the aid of any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce any order made or action taken by him in pursuance of law.
§ 31–4314. False statements in application for policy.
The falsity of a statement in the application for any policy of insurance shall not bar the right to recovery thereunder unless such false statement was made with intent to deceive or unless it materially affected either the acceptance of the risk or the hazard assumed by the company.
§ 31–4315. Deposit of securities by companies desiring to transact business — Amount; deposits outside District.
(a) Every company desiring to transact business in the District shall, as a prerequisite to the issuance of a certificate of authority, deposit, as herein provided, approved securities of not less than $100,000 market value. In the case of domestic companies, such deposit shall be made in the District as prescribed under § 31-4316; provided, that the deposit of every domestic company heretofore organized under the provisions of the laws of the District or other act of Congress may, in the discretion of the Commissioner, be limited: (1) For stock companies, to an amount equal to the capital stock outstanding on June 19, 1934; and (2) for nonstock companies, to such amount as in the opinion of the Commissioner would be required from stock companies of comparable size. In no case shall the deposit of a domestic company be less than $25,000 in value. In the case of foreign or alien companies, the deposit may be made as provided under § 31-4316, or may be made with the supervising official of any state, territory, or insular possession of the United States authorized to accept such deposit, which shall be held for the benefit of all policyholders.
(b) In the case of a deposit made with an official outside the District, a certificate of deposit from said official shall be filed with the Commissioner, showing the character of the deposit, before a certificate of authority to transact business in the District may be issued, and, if the securities so deposited are not of the class authorized by this subdivision for investments of companies, the Commissioner may require an additional deposit in approved securities.
§ 31–4316. Deposit of securities by companies desiring to transact business — Type of securities allowed; officials responsible for safekeeping; collection of income; substitution; decline in value.
(a) When any company is required by this subdivision to make a deposit in the District, such deposit shall be in securities of the class authorized by this subdivision for investments of companies, and shall be delivered by the company to the Executive Secretary of the District and the Auditor of the District, who shall receive and hold the same subject to the lawful orders of the Commissioner, and who shall be responsible for the safekeeping of all securities deposited or delivered under the authority of this section. The company shall have the right to collect the income on deposited securities so long as it continues solvent and complies with the laws of the United States and of the District, and it shall have the right to substitute for such securities other securities, provided such substituted securities are of the character, amount, and value required by this section, and are approved by the Commissioner; provided, that not less than $25,000 of such deposit shall at all times consist of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness of the United States or of any state of the United States, or of any county or incorporated city of any state of the United States, and that securities of a class different from such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall not in any case be accepted for deposit except with the specific approval of and at values determined by the Commissioner.
(b) If the value of securities deposited by any company shall decline, the Commissioner may require the company to make a further deposit, in order that the amount and value of the deposit required by this subdivision shall at all times be maintained.
§ 31–4317. Deposit of securities by companies desiring to transact business — Withdrawal upon discontinuance of business or reinsurance.
(a) When a company determines to discontinue its business or to cease to do business in the District and desires to withdraw its deposit made in the District pursuant to this subdivision the Commissioner shall, upon the application of the company, and at its expense, give notice of such intention in a newspaper of general circulation in the District once a week for 3 consecutive weeks. After such publication he shall deliver to such company or its assigns the securities so deposited when he is satisfied upon examination and investigation made by him or under his authority and upon the oaths of the president and secretary or other chief officers of the company that all debts and liabilities of every kind due and to become due which the deposit was made to secure are paid and extinguished; provided, that the Commissioner may require any company so withdrawing from the District to furnish bond to cover any undisclosed or contingent liabilities.
(b) Upon a company being wholly reinsured the Commissioner may deliver to it or to its assigns all securities deposited by it upon compliance with the following condition: The reinsuring company shall assume and agree to discharge all liabilities of every kind due and to become due which the deposit of the reinsured company was made to secure. Such reinsuring company shall have a deposit in the District or with some state official in the United States in securities recognized by this law as lawful investments of the company in an amount and value not less than the deposit required of the reinsured company. The deposit of the reinsuring company shall be such that it will subsist for the security of the obligations of the reinsured company assumed by the reinsuring company. The Commissioner shall give notice of such reinsurance agreement and of the application for the deposit once a week for 3 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the District before the delivery of such securities to the reinsuring company.
§ 31–4319. Superintendent authorized to take over companies; grounds; procedure; liquidation; special agents and employees; rules and regulations; reports and bonds [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4320. Companies deemed insolvent [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4321. Reinsurance by Superintendent [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4322. Valuation of securities. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4323. Service of process; appointment of Superintendent as attorney of companies; violations. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4324. Political contributions prohibited; immunity of witnesses in proceedings in regard to violations. [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4325. General agents, agents, or solicitors; issuance, expiration and renewal of required license; exceptions; termination of employment; information provided Superintendent deemed privileged [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4326. Suspension or revocation of licenses; grounds; hearing and appeal; alternative penalty [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4327. Judicial appeals from rulings of Superintendent; procedure; liability of Superintendent in proceedings [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4328. Brokers; issuance, revocation and renewal of required license; violations [Repealed]
Repealed.
§ 31–4329. Disposition of premiums paid to agents.
An insurance agent, solicitor, or broker who acts in negotiating or renewing or continuing a contract of insurance for a company lawfully doing business in the District, and who receives any money or substitute for money as a premium for such a contract from the insured, whether he shall be entitled to an interest in same or otherwise, shall be deemed to hold such premium in trust for the company making the contract. If he fails to pay the same over to the company after written demand made upon him therefor, such failure shall be prima facie evidence that he has used or applied the said premium for a purpose other than paying the same over to the company, and upon conviction thereof he shall be deemed guilty of theft and punished accordingly.
§ 31–4330. Contractual rights of minors.
Any minor of the age of 15 years or more may, notwithstanding such minority, contract for life, health, and accident insurance on his own life for his or her own benefit or for the benefit of his father, mother, spouse, child, brother, sister, or for the benefit of any person who has the care or custody of said minor or with whom said minor makes his or her home, and may exercise all such contractual rights with respect to any such contract of insurance as might be exercised by a person of full legal age and may at any time surrender his or her interest in any such insurance or give a valid discharge for any benefit accruing or money payable thereunder.
§ 31–4331. Assessment companies prohibited.
Any company which makes insurance or reinsurance the performance of which is not guaranteed by the reserves required by this subdivision, but is contingent upon the payment of assessments or calls made upon its members, shall not be formed, admitted, or licensed in the District.
§ 31–4332. Appeals from Commissioner to Mayor.
Any appeals to the Mayor from rulings of the Commissioner shall be perfected and filed with the Mayor within 20 days exclusive of Sundays and legal holidays from the date such rulings are communicated to the party at interest.
