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Alaska Statutes.

Title 21. Insurance

Chapter 39. Rates and Rating Organizations

Section 40. Rate Filings.

AS 21.39.040. Rate Filings.

(a) Each insurer shall file with the director, except as to inland marine risks, which, by general custom of the business, are not written according to manual rates or rating plans, and except for rates for commercial insurance for which the director, by regulation, authorizes an informational filing as set out in (k) of this section, every manual, minimum, class rate, rating schedule, loss cost adjustment, or rating plan and every other rating rule, and each modification of any of them that it proposes to use. Each filing

(1) shall be made under the applicaable filing procedures in AS 21.39.041, 21.39.210, or 21.39.220;

(2) must state the proposed effective date; and

(3) must indicate the character and extent of the coverage contemplated.

(b) An insurer may satisfy its obligation to make filings by becoming a member of, or a subscriber to, a licensed rating organization that makes filings and by authorizing the director to accept the filings on its behalf, except that nothing in this chapter may be construed as requiring an insurer to become a member of or a subscriber to a rating organization.

(c) The director shall review filings as soon as reasonably possible after they have been made in order to determine whether they meet the requirements of this chapter.

(d) When a filing is not accompanied by the information upon which the insurer supports the filing, and the director does not have sufficient information to determine whether the filing meets the requirements of this chapter, the director shall require the insurer to furnish the information upon which the insurer supports the filing. The waiting period in AS 21.39.041 (a) or 21.39.220 (b) begins on the date the information is furnished to the director. The information furnished in support of a filing may include (1) the experience or judgment of the insurer or rating organization making the filing; (2) the insurer's interpretation of the statistical data it relies upon; (3) the experience of other insurers or rating organizations; (4) any other relevant factors. Specific inland marine rates on risks specially rated, made by a rating organization, shall be filed with the director.

(e) Specific inland marine rates on risks specially rated by a rating organization, or a specific filing with respect to a surety or guaranty bond required by law or by court, executive order, or regulation of a public body and not covered by a previous filing, shall become effective when filed and considered to meet the requirements of this chapter until such time as the director reviews the filing and as long thereafter as the filing remains in effect.

(f) The director may, by written order, suspend or modify the requirement of filing on a kind of insurance, subdivision or combination of them, or on classes of risks, the rates for which cannot practicably be filed before they are used or the filing and approval of which are, in the director's opinion, not desirable or necessary for the protection of the public. The orders shall be made known to insurers and rating organizations affected by them. The director may make an examination that the director may consider advisable to ascertain whether the rates affected by the order meet the standards set out in AS 21.39.030 (a)(2).

(g) Upon the written application of the insured describing the unusual characteristics that are not otherwise contemplated in the filed rating plan, the insurer may file a rate other than a rate provided for in an applicable rate filing that may be used on a specific risk. The filing shall be made under the applicable filing procedures in AS 21.39.041 or 21.39.220.

(h) An insurer may not make or issue a contract or policy except in accordance with the filings that are in effect for that insurer as provided in this chapter or in accordance with (f), (g), and (i) of this section. This subsection does not apply to contracts or policies for inland marine risks on which filings are not required.

(i) An insurer may use a rate less than that provided by a filing otherwise applicable on a specific risk the insurance for which would otherwise be exported under AS 21.34. Within 30 days of this action the insurer shall file a report detailing the information required by the director on a form prescribed by the director.

(j) An insurer who has submitted an application for a certificate of authority under AS 21.09.110 and a filing of policy forms under AS 21.42.120 may file a proposed rating system as described in this section. The director's approval of the rating system is contingent upon the issuance of a certificate of authority under AS 21.09.120 .

(k) The director

(1) may adopt regulations detailing the format and content of a rating system filing under this section;

(2) shall, by July 1, 2002, adopt regulations consistent with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Property and Casualty Model Rate and Policy Form Act, including those provisions relating to the format and content of informational filings for rates for commercial insurance; the provisions of AS 21.39.030 (a) apply to an informational filing authorized by the director; in this paragraph, "informational filing" means a filing that the director does not approve before its use and that meets the format and content requirements of regulations adopted by the director.