Act No. 222

Public Acts of 1998

Approved by the Governor

July 1, 1998

Filed with the Secretary of State

July 1, 1998

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 1998

STATE OF MICHIGAN

89TH LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 1998

Introduced by Rep. Profit

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 5642

AN ACT to amend 1956 PA 218, entitled "An act to revise, consolidate, and classify the laws relating to the insurance and surety business; to regulate the incorporation or formation of domestic insurance and surety companies and associations and the admission of foreign and alien companies and associations; to provide their rights, powers, and immunities and to prescribe the conditions on which companies and associations organized, existing, or authorized under this act may exercise their powers; to provide the rights, powers, and immunities and to prescribe the conditions on which other persons, firms, corporations, associations, risk retention groups, and purchasing groups engaged in an insurance or surety business may exercise their powers; to provide for the imposition of a privilege fee on domestic insurance companies and associations and the state accident fund; to provide for the imposition of a tax on the business of foreign and alien companies and associations; to provide for the imposition of a tax on risk retention groups and purchasing groups; to provide for the imposition of a tax on the business of surplus line agents; to provide for the imposition of regulatory fees on certain insurers; to modify tort liability arising out of certain accidents; to provide for limited actions with respect to that modified tort liability and to prescribe certain procedures for maintaining those actions; to require security for losses arising out of certain accidents; to provide for the continued availability and affordability of automobile insurance and homeowners insurance in this state and to facilitate the purchase of that insurance by all residents of this state at fair and reasonable rates; to provide for certain reporting with respect to insurance and with respect to certain claims against uninsured or self-insured persons; to prescribe duties for certain state departments and officers with respect to that reporting; to provide for certain assessments; to establish and continue certain state insurance funds; to modify and clarify the status, rights, powers, duties, and operations of the nonprofit malpractice insurance fund; to provide for the departmental supervision and regulation of the insurance and surety business within this state; to provide for the conservation, rehabilitation, or liquidation of unsound or insolvent insurers; to provide for the protection of policyholders, claimants, and creditors of unsound or insolvent insurers; to provide for associations of insurers to protect policyholders and claimants in the event of insurer insolvencies; to prescribe educational requirements for insurance agents and solicitors; to provide for the regulation of multiple employer welfare arrangements; to create an automobile theft prevention authority to reduce the number of automobile thefts in this state; to prescribe the powers and duties of the automobile theft prevention authority; to provide certain powers and duties upon certain officials, departments, and authorities of this state; to repeal certain acts and parts of acts; to repeal certain acts and parts of acts on specific dates; to repeal certain parts of this act on specific dates; and to provide penalties for the violation of this act," by amending section 2210 (MCL 500.2210), as amended by 1994 PA 227.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 2210. (1) As used in this section:

(a) "Employee benefit plan" means that term as defined by the employee retirement income security act of 1974, Public Law 93-406, 88 Stat. 829.

(b) "Employer" means an individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, firm, corporation, association, or any other legal entity, which has 1 or more employees and is legally doing business in this state.

(c) "Trust" means a trust established by an employer.

(2) Notwithstanding any other section of this act, an employer or a trust has an insurable interest in, and may, with the written consent of the insured, insure on an individual or group basis for its benefit the lives of the employer's directors, officers, managers, nonmanagement employees, and retired employees. An employer or a trust may insure the lives of the employer's nonmanagement employees and its retired employees only if those persons give written consent to be insured and the coverage is limited to an amount reasonably commensurate with the employer's projected unfunded liabilities to nonmanagement and retired employees for employee benefit plans, calculated according to accepted actuarial principles. An employer shall not retaliate in any manner against an employee or a retired employee for refusing consent to be insured.

(3) Notwithstanding any other section of this act, a trust maintained for the purpose of providing for the cost of benefits under an employee benefit plan maintained for employees or retired employees has an insurable interest in, and may, with the acquiescence of the insured, insure on an individual or group basis for its benefit the lives of the employer's directors, officers, managers, nonmanagement employees, and retired employees. A trust may insure the life of a nonmanagement employee and a retired employee only if that person is given written notice of the coverage, he or she has not notified either the employer or the trust in writing that he or she does not want to be insured for the coverage, and the coverage is limited to an amount reasonably commensurate with the employer's projected unfunded liabilities to nonmanagement and retired employees for employee benefit plans, calculated according to accepted actuarial principles. An employer or a trust shall not retaliate in any manner against an employee or a retired employee for providing the written notice that he or she does not want to be insured for the coverage.

(4) The proceeds of any policy or certificate issued pursuant to subsection (2) or (3) are exempt from the claims of any creditor or dependent of the insured.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Secretary of the Senate.

Approved

Governor.