13800.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act of 1999.

13801.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) During World War II, untold millions of lives and property
were destroyed.
   (b) In addition to the many atrocities that befell the victims of
the Nazi regime, insurance claims that rightfully should have been
paid out to the victims and their families, in many cases, were not.
   (c) In many instances, insurance company records are the only
proof of insurance policies held.  In some cases, recollection of
those policies' very existence may have perished along with the
Holocaust victims.
   (d) At least 5,600 documented Holocaust survivors are living in
California today.  Many of these survivors and their descendents have
been fighting for over 50 years to persuade insurance companies to
settle unpaid or wrongfully paid claims.  Survivors are asking that
insurance companies come forth with any information they possess that
could show proof of insurance policies held by Holocaust victims and
survivors, in order to ensure that closure on this issue is swiftly
brought to pass.
   (e) Insurance companies doing business in the State of California
have a responsibility to ensure that any involvement they or their
related companies may have had with insurance policies of Holocaust
victims are disclosed to the state and to ensure the rapid resolution
of these questions, eliminating the further victimization of these
policyholders and their families.
   (f) The international Jewish community is in active negotiations
with responsible insurance companies through the International
Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims to resolve all
outstanding insurance claims issues.  This chapter is necessary to
protect the claims and interests of California residents, as well as
to encourage the development of a resolution to these issues through
the international process or through direct action by the State of
California, as necessary.

13802.  For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (a) "Holocaust victim" means any person who was persecuted during
the period of 1929 to 1945, inclusive, by Nazi Germany, its allies,
or sympathizers.
   (b) "Related company" means any parent, subsidiary, reinsurer,
successor in interest, managing general agent, or affiliate company
of the insurer.
   (c) "Proceeds" means the face value or other payout value of
insurance policies and annuities plus reasonable interest to date of
payment without diminution for wartime or immediate postwar currency
devaluation.

13803.  The commissioner shall establish and maintain within the
department a central registry containing records and information
relating to insurance policies, as described in Section 13804, of
Holocaust victims, living and deceased.  The registry shall be known
as the Holocaust Era Insurance Registry.  The Attorney General, in
coordination with the department, shall establish appropriate
mechanisms to ensure public access to the registry.

13804.  (a) Any insurer currently doing business in the state that
sold life, property, liability, health, annuities, dowry,
educational, or casualty insurance policies, directly or through a
related company, to persons in Europe, which were in effect between
1920 and 1945, whether the sale occurred before or after the insurer
and the related company became related, shall, within 180 days
following enactment of this act, file or cause to be filed the
following information with the commissioner to be entered into the
registry:
   (1) The number of those insurance policies.
   (2) The holder, beneficiary, and current status of those policies.

   (3) The city of origin, domicile, or address for each policyholder
listed in the policies.
   (b) In addition, each insurer subject to subdivision (a) shall
certify to any of the following:
   (1) That the proceeds of the policies described in subdivision (a)
have been paid to the designated beneficiaries or their heirs where
that person or persons, after diligent search, could be located and
identified.
   (2) That the proceeds of the policies where the beneficiaries or
heirs could not, after diligent search, be located or identified,
have been distributed to Holocaust survivors or to qualified
charitable nonprofit organizations for the purpose of assisting
Holocaust survivors.
   (3) That a court of law has certified in a legal proceeding
resolving the rights of unpaid policyholders, their heirs, and
beneficiaries, a plan for the distribution of the proceeds.
   (4) That the proceeds have not been distributed and the amount of
those proceeds.
   An insurer who certifies as true any material matter pursuant to
this subdivision, which the insurer knows to be false, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
   (c) An insurer currently doing business in the state that did not
sell any insurance policies in Europe prior to 1945, shall not be
subject to this section if a related company, whether or not
authorized and currently doing business in the state, has made a
filing under this section.

13805.  Any insurer that knowingly files information about a policy
required by this chapter that is false shall, with respect to that
policy, be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed five thousand
dollars ($5,000), which penalty is hereby appropriated to the
department to be used by it to aid in the resolution of Holocaust
insurance claims.

13806.  The commissioner shall suspend the certificate of authority
to conduct insurance business in the state of any insurer that fails
to comply with the requirements of this chapter by the 210th day
after this section becomes effective, until the time that the insurer
complies with this chapter.

13807.  The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this chapter
within 90 days of its effective date.  The rules shall be adopted as
emergency regulations in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing
with Section 11340) of the Government Code, and for the purposes of
that chapter, including Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the
adoption of the rules shall be considered by the Office of
Administrative Law to be necessary for the immediate preservation of
the public peace, health and safety, and general welfare.

790.15.  (a) If an insurer or any affiliate of an insurer has failed
to pay any valid claim from Holocaust survivors, the certificate of
authority of the insurer shall be suspended until the insurer, or its
affiliates, pays the claim or claims.
   (b) As used in this section:
   (1) "Holocaust survivor" means any person who is the beneficiary
of an insurance policy, if the insurance policy insured a person's
life, property, or other interest, and the insured person was killed,
died, was displaced, or was otherwise a victim of persecution of
Jewish and other peoples preceding and during World War II by
Germany, its allies, or sympathizers.
   (2) "Beneficiary" means any person or entity entitled to recover
under any policy of insurance, including any named beneficiary, any
heir of a named beneficiary, and any other person entitled to recover
under the policy.
   (3) "Claim" means any claim submitted by a Holocaust survivor or
other beneficiary arising under an insurance policy for any loss or
damage caused by or arising because of discriminatory practices or
persecution by the Nazi-controlled German government or its allies,
or by insurers that refused to pay claims because of a claim that
policies of insurance or records were missing or confiscated because
of actions by the Nazi-controlled German government or its agents or
allies.  Claim also includes any claim by Holocaust survivors or
beneficiaries to collect proceeds from dowry or education policies or
from annuities.
   (4) An "affiliate" of, or person "affiliated" with, a specific
person, means a person who directly, or indirectly through one or
more intermediaries, controls, or is controlled by, or is under
common control with, the person specified.
   (5) "Control" includes the terms "controlling," "controlled by,"
and "under common control with," and means the possession, direct or
indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the
management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of
voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for
goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is
the result of an official position with or corporate office held by
the person.  Control shall be presumed to exist if any person,
directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote,
or holds proxies representing, more than 10 percent of the voting
securities of any other person.
   (c) An action to suspend a certificate of authority under this
section shall be conducted in accordance with the Administrative
Procedure Act (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), except that (1) if
the Office of Administrative Hearings is unable to assign an
administrative law judge to preside over a hearing that commences
within 30 days of the filing of an accusation or order initiating an
action under this section, the administrative law judge may be
appointed by the commissioner; and (2) if the commissioner determines
that it is necessary to protect the interests of Holocaust
survivors, he or she may issue an order of suspension pursuant to
this section prior to holding a hearing.
   (d) If the commissioner issues an order pursuant to paragraph (2)
of subdivision (c), he or she shall immediately issue and serve upon
the insurer a statement of reasons for the immediate action, as well
as a copy of the accusation or order containing the allegations that
support the order.  Any order issued pursuant to this subdivision
shall include a notice stating the time and place of a hearing on the
order, which shall not be less than 20, nor more than 30 days after
the order is served.
   (e) When considering an action to suspend a certificate of
authority under this section, the commissioner shall include
consideration of whether the insurer has participated in good faith
in an international commission on Holocaust survivor insurance
claims, and whether the commission is making meaningful and
expeditious progress toward paying claims to survivors and righting
the historic wrong done to Holocaust victims.

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