2006 Massachusetts Code - Chapter 175C — Section 5. Powers of commissioner.

[Text of section effective until October 1, 2005. For text effective October 1, 2005, see below.]

Section 5. The operation of the the association shall at all times be subject to the supervision and regulation of the commissioner. The commissioner or any suitable person designated to act for him shall have the power to examine and investigate the operation of the association and shall have free access to all the books, records, files, papers and documents that relate to such operations, may summon and qualify witnesses under oath, and may examine directors, officers, agents or employees or any other person having knowledge of such operations for the purpose of determining if the purposes of this chapter are being fulfilled.

The association shall be authorized to make rate filings in accordance with the provisions of chapter one hundred and seventy-four A and chapter one hundred and seventy-five A; provided, however, that any such filing shall be subject to the prior approval of the commissioner, after proper notice and hearing, subject to the adjudicatory procedures of chapter thirty A; and, provided further, that in reviewing the rates for the association, the commissioner shall give consideration, in addition to all other relevant factors, to the loss experience of insurers in the voluntary market, as well as the experience of the association and to the intent of this chapter to make basic property insurance available at reasonable cost to eligible applicants in territories in which the market share of the association equals or exceeds four percent during the three most recent calendar years.

The commissioner shall approve all rates for the association for homeowners insurance in territories in which the market share based on written premium of the association averages less than four percent during the three most recent calendar years if the commissioner finds that the proposed rates for such territories comply with the requirements of the General Laws; provided, however, that the commissioner may disapprove any such rate upon a finding that it exceeds a rate equal to the ninetieth percentile of the rates then in use in such territory by the ten insurers with the largest market shares of homeowners insurance written in the commonwealth on a statewide basis. The commissioner shall approve all rates for the association for homeowners insurance in territories in which the market share based on written premium of the association equals or exceeds four percent on average during the three most recent calendar years only if the commissioner finds that (a) the proposed rates for the association for such territories comply with the requirements of the General Laws and (b) no rate for any such territory in any calendar year increases over the lowest rate for that product charged by the association during the prior calendar year in such territory by more than the overall statewide average percentage increase in rates charged from December thirty-first of the year preceding the prior calendar year to December thirty-first of such prior calendar year for homeowners insurance by the ten insurers with the largest market shares of such insurance written in the commonwealth on a statewide basis. Whenever the average market share of the association during the most recent three years shall reach a level which equals or exceeds four percent in a given territory, the association shall analyze the rates of companies in such territory and shall file a report with the commissioner who shall, in turn, either re-certify the current rate or approve a revised rate for such territory filed by the association which bears a relationship to the rates in the voluntary market in such territory which is consistent with the average relationship between the rates charged by the association in all territories in which it has a similar market share and the rates in the voluntary market in those territories. As used in this paragraph, the term “homeowners insurance” shall apply only to the types of products sold by the association on the effective date of this section. All other types of homeowners products subsequently sold by the association shall have a rate based on a factor approved by the commissioner that reflects the relative value of the coverage provided by such types of products to those for which rates have been approved by the commissioner as hereinbefore described.