| Passed by the House April 21, 2003 Yeas 96 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 15, 2003 Yeas 49 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Cynthia Zehnder, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1128 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2003 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/13/03.
AN ACT Relating to property insurance for victims of malicious harassment; and adding a new section to chapter 48.18 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 48.18 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Insured" means a current policyholder or a person or entity
that is covered under the insurance policy.
(b) "Malicious harassment" has the same meaning as RCW 9A.36.080.
Under this section, the perpetrator does not have to be identified for
an act of malicious harassment to have occurred.
(c) "Underwriting action" means an insurer:
(i) Cancels or refuses to renew an insurance policy; or
(ii) Changes the terms or benefits in an insurance policy.
(2) This section applies to property insurance policies if the
insured is:
(a) An individual;
(b) A religious organization;
(c) An educational organization; or
(d) Any other nonprofit organization that is organized and operated
for religious, charitable, or educational purposes.
(3) An insurer may not take an underwriting action on a policy
described in subsection (2) of this section because an insured has made
one or more insurance claims for any loss that occurred during the
preceding sixty months that is the result of malicious harassment. An
insurer may take an underwriting action due to other factors that are
not prohibited by this subsection.
(4) If an insured sustains a loss that is the result of malicious
harassment, the insured must file a report with the police or other law
enforcement authority within thirty days of discovery of the incident,
and a law enforcement authority must determine that a crime has
occurred. The report must contain sufficient information to provide an
insurer with reasonable notice that the loss was the result of
malicious harassment. The insured has a duty to cooperate with any law
enforcement official or insurer investigation. For incidents of
malicious harassment occurring prior to the effective date of this act,
the insured must file the report within six months of the discovery of
the incident.
(5) Annually, each insurer must report underwriting actions to the
commissioner if the insurer has taken an underwriting action against
any insured who has filed a claim during the preceding sixty months
that was the result of malicious harassment. The report must include
the policy number, name of the insured, location of the property, and
the reason for the underwriting action.