HCS/SS/SB 181 - This act enacts provisions relating to contractual agreements.PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC CORPORATIONS (Sections 287.690, 287.900, 287.902, 287.905, 287.907, 287.909, 287.910, 287.912, 287.912, 287.915, 287.917, 287.919, 287.920, 375.1275, and B)
Under current law, the Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance Company (MEM) is established as a public corporation for the purpose of insuring Missouri employers against liability for workers' compensation, occupational disease and employers' liability coverage.
This act repeals the law establishing MEM as a public corporation and all connected statutes and specifies a process under which MEM may convert to a private mutual insurance corporation under the general insurance laws, authorized to write any lines of insurance permitted under Missouri law.
The company may continue to conduct business under its current name, and shall become the successor in interest to all assets and liabilities of the company as of the date of conversion.
The state shall not be liable for the expenses, liabilities, or debts of the private version of the company, the public corporation version of the company or a subsidiary or joint enterprise involving the private version of the company.
The act contains a delayed effective date for certain sections.
These provisions are identical to provisions in the truly agreed to and finally passed HCS/SB 101 (2023), provisions in SCS/HB 585 (2023), provisions in SS/SCS/HCS/HB 655 (2023), and provisions in HCS/HB 1019 (2023), and similar to HB 277 (2023).
EARNED WAGE ACCESS SERVICES (Section 361.749)
An earned wage access service is the business of delivering funds that have been earned but are unpaid, referred to as proceeds, to consumers prior to the next date on which an employer or other person paying a salary, wages, compensation, or other income to a consumer is obligated to pay such funds.
The act prohibits any person from engaging in the business of earned wage access services without registering with the Division of Finance by filling out a registration form and paying a $1,000 registration fee. The act outlines the obligations and restrictions on how an earned wage access services provider ("service provider") may engage in business, including requiring development of procedures for dealing with consumer questions and complaints, specifying how services may be provided, specifying notices required to be given consumers, and regulating the types of fees that may be charged and the manner in which any repayments may be pursued.
The act further details requirements for if the service provider solicits, charges, or receives tips, gratuities, or donations from consumers.
The Commissioner of the Division of Finance within the Department of Commerce and Insurance, or the Commissioner's representative, may make investigations to examine any registrant and may compel the production of all relevant books, records, accounts, and documents of registrants. Registrants are required to maintain records of their earned wage access services, which may be in electronic form, for at least two years. Enforcement measures are created allowing for the suspension or revocation of registration if a provider fails, refuses, or neglects to comply with this act. Any earned wage access services provider knowingly violating these provisions shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
These provisions do not apply to banks or savings and loan associations whose deposits or accounts are eligible for insurance by the FDIC; credit unions; or any person authorized to make loans or extensions of credit.
These provisions are substantially similar to provisions in the truly agreed to and finally passed HCS/SCS/SB 103 (2023) and provisions in HCS/HB 628 (2023), and similar to SB 586 (2023) and provisions in HCS/HB 759 (2023).
AIRCRAFT INSURANCE (Section 379.316)
This act exempts aircraft liability insurance, other than employers' liability, from certain regulations on insurance premium rates and rating plans.
These provisions are identical to provisions in the truly agreed to and finally passed HCS/SB 101 (2023), provisions in SCS/HB 585 (2023), provisions in SS/SCS/HCS/HB 655 (2023), and provisions in HCS/HB 1019 (2023), and similar to SB 578 (2023).
LENDER-PLACED INSURANCE (Sections 379.1850, 379.1851, 379.1853, 379.1855, 379.1857, 379.1859, 379.1861, 379.1863, 379.1865, 379.1867, and 379.1869)
This act enacts provisions relating to lender-placed insurance, as defined in the act, with applicability as described in the act. (Sections 379.1850 and 379.1859).
The act specifies when lender-placed insurance shall become effective and terminate, and when mortgagors may be charged for the policies. (Section 379.1853).
Coverage amounts and premium amounts shall be based upon the replacement cost value of the property, to be determined as laid out in the act. In the event of a covered loss, any replacement cost coverage in excess of the unpaid principal balance on the mortgage shall be paid to the mortgagor. No insurer shall write lender-placed insurance for which the premium rate differs from that determined by the rate schedules on file with the Department of Commerce and Insurance as of the effective date of the policy. (Section 379.1855).
The act prohibits insurers and insurance producers from issuing lender-placed insurance if they or one of their affiliates owns, performs servicing for, or owns the servicing right to, the mortgaged property. The act prohibits insurers and insurance producers from compensating lenders, insurers, investors, or servicers for lender-placed insurance policies issued by the insurer, and from sharing premiums or risk with the lender, investor, or servicer. The act also prohibits payments dependent on profitability or loss ratios from being made in connection with lender-placed insurance, specifies that insurers shall not provide free or below-cost services or outsource its own functions at an above-cost basis. No insurer or insurance producer shall make any payments for the purpose of securing lender-placed insurance business or related services. (Section 379.1857).
The act requires lender-placed insurance to be set forth in its own policy or certificate. Proof of coverage shall be provided in person or by mail to the last known address of the mortgagor, or in accordance with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, and shall include certain information laid out in the act. (Section 379.1861).
Policy forms and certificates and premium rates shall be filed with the Department of Commerce and Insurance, which shall review the rates to determine whether they are excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory, and whether expenses included in the rate are appropriate. Rates shall be filed at least once every 4 years, and all insurers shall have separate rates for lender-placed insurance and voluntary insurance obtained by a mortgage servicer on real estate owned property, as defined in the act. The act requires insurers writing at least $100,000 in lender-placed insurance to annually report certain financial information to the Department of Commerce and Insurance, and specifies that except in the case of lender-placed flood insurance, insurers experiencing an annual loss ratio of less than 35% for two consecutive years shall re-file rates. Except as otherwise provided in the act, rates and forms shall be filed as required by law. (Section 379.1863).
The Director of the Department of Commerce and Insurance shall have authority to enforce the provisions of the act, subject to judicial review as provided by law. The act shall not be construed to create a private cause of action, or to extinguish any mortgagor rights otherwise available under state, federal, or common law. (Section 379.1865).
Lastly, the act specifies potential penalties for violations of the act, including monetary penalties and suspension or revocation of an insurer's license. (Section 379.1867).
These provisions are identical to provisions in the truly agreed to and finally passed HCS/SB 101 (2023), provisions in SCS/HB 585 (2023), provisions in SS/SCS/HCS/HB 655 (2023), and provisions in HCS/HB 1019 (2023).
VICARIOUS LIABILITY OF TNC COMPANIES (Section 387.435)
This act provides that transportation network companies (TNCs) shall not be held vicariously liable based on reasons specified in the act if there is no negligence under statutes regulating TNCs, no criminal wrongdoing by the TNC under state or federal law, and the TNC has fulfilled its obligations to the TNC driver as provided by law.
These provisions are identical to SB 560 (2023) and HB 721 (2023).
CONSUMER LEGAL FUNDING ACT (Sections 436.550, 436.552, 436.554, 436.556, 436.558, 436.560, 436.562, 436.564, 436.566, 436.568, 436.570, and 436.572)
This act creates the “Consumer Legal Funding Act”. Under the Act, all consumer legal funding contracts shall meet specific requirements described in the act.
The consumer legal funding company, as described in the act, shall provide the consumer’s attorney with a written notification of such contract within 3 business days of the funding date.
Such contract shall be entered into only if the contract involves an existing legal claim in which a consumer is represented by an attorney. The act specifies certain actions in which a consumer legal funding company shall not engage, such as intentionally advertising materially false information regarding its products or services.
No contracted amount to be paid to the consumer legal funding company shall be set as a predetermined amount based upon intervals of time from the funding date to the resolution date and shall not be determined as a percentage of the recovery from the legal claim. No consumer legal contract shall be valid if its terms exceed 48 months, and it shall not be automatically renewed. All such contracts shall meet certain requirements and contain specific disclosures, as described in the act.
Nothing in the act shall be construed to restrict the exercise of powers or the performance of the duties of the Attorney General. If a court determines that a consumer legal funding company has intentionally violated provisions under the act, the consumer legal funding contract shall be voided.
The contingent right to receive an amount of the potential proceeds of a legal claim is assignable. Nothing contained in the provisions of the act shall be construed to cause any consumer legal funding contract conforming to the provisions of the act to be deemed a loan or to be subject to any of the provisions governing loans. Such contract is not subject to any other statutory or regulatory provisions governing loans or investment contracts. Provisions of the act shall supersede any other law for the purposes of regulating consumer legal funding in this state.
Only attorney’s liens related to the legal claim, Medicare, or other statutory liens related to the legal claim shall take priority over claims to proceeds from the consumer legal funding company. All other liens and claims shall take priority by normal operation of law.
No consumer legal funding company shall report a consumer to a credit reporting agency if insufficient funds remain from the net proceeds to repay the company.
An attorney or a law firm retained by the consumer in the legal claim shall not have a financial interest in the consumer legal funding company offering consumer legal funding to that consumer. Any practicing attorney who has referred the consumer to his or her retained attorney shall not have a financial interest in the consumer legal funding company offering consumer legal funding to that consumer.
No communication between the consumer's attorney in the legal claim and the consumer legal funding company necessary to ascertain the status of a legal claim or a legal claim's expected value shall be discoverable by the party with whom the claim is filed or against whom the claim is asserted. Provisions of this act do not limit, waive, or abrogate the scope or nature of any statutory or common-law privilege, including the work-product doctrine and attorney client privilege.
A consumer legal funding company shall not engage in the business of consumer legal funding in the state unless it has first obtained a license from the Division of Finance. Requirements and fees for such licenses are described in the act.
The Division shall conduct an examination of each consumer funding company, as described in the act. For any such examination, the Commissioner of the Division of Finance shall have free and immediate access to the place of business and documents, and shall have the authority to place under oath all persons whose testimony may be relevant to the affairs of the consumer legal funding company. The Commissioner may conduct such special investigations or examination as the Commissioner deems necessary to determined whether any consumer legal funding company violated any provisions under the act as described in the act.
A consumer legal funding contract is a fact subject to the usual rules of discovery.
These provisions are substantially similar to provisions in the truly agreed to and finally passed HCS/SCS/SB 103 (2023) and provisions in CCS/HCS/SS/SCS/SB 72 (2023), and similar to provisions in SB 342 (2023), provisions in HCS/HB 628 (2023), SB 708 (2023), provisions in SCS/HCS/HB 725 (2023), provisions in HCS/HB 2771 (2022), SB 504 (2019), and HB 550 (2019).
ERIC VANDER WEERD
HA 1 - ENACTS PROVISIONS RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE FINANCIAL PROTECTION PRODUCTS
HA 2 - MODIFIES PROVISIONS RELATING TO CONSUMER LEGAL FUNDING
HA 3 - ENACTS PROVISIONS RELATING TO CONSUMER FINANCING DISCLOSURES
HA 4 - ENACTS PROVISIONS RELATING TO DENTAL CARE PROVIDER NETWORKS
HA 5 - MODIFIES PROVISIONS RELATING TO LINKED DEPOSITS
HA 6 - ENACTS PROVISIONS RELATING TO RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS
HA 7 - MODIFIES PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE LETTING OF CONTRACTS BY POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS