| Passed by the House February 9, 2006 Yeas 71 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate March 7, 2006 Yeas 45 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2481 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 | 59th Legislature | 2006 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 01/30/06.
AN ACT Relating to insuring victims of crimes; adding a new section to chapter 48.18 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that access to
insurance can be imperiled by the response of insurers to criminal
acts. Rather than allow criminals to achieve their objectives, it is
the intent of the legislature that criminals, through criminal acts,
should not dictate insurance underwriting decisions. It is the intent
of the legislature that courts should use restitution from perpetrators
of intentional property crimes to make property owners and insurers
whole.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 48.18 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Arson" has the same meaning as in chapter 9A.48 RCW.
(b) "Health care facility" has the same meaning as defined in RCW
48.43.005.
(c) "Health care provider" has the same meaning as defined in RCW
48.43.005.
(d) "Insured" means a current policyholder or a person or entity
that is covered under the insurance policy.
(e) A perpetrator does not have to be identified for an act of
arson or malicious mischief to have occurred.
(f) "Malicious mischief" has the same meaning as in chapter 9A.48
RCW.
(g) "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) A health care facility;
(b) A health care provider; or
(c) A religious organization.
(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 arson or malicious
mischief. 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 arson or
malicious mischief, 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 arson or malicious mischief. The insured has a duty to cooperate
with any law enforcement official or insurer investigation.
(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 arson or malicious mischief. The report must
include the policy number, name of the insured, location of the
property, and the reason for the underwriting action.