Sec. 4. 24-A MRSA §222, sub-§2, ¶F, as amended by PL 1999, c. 113, §9, is further amended to read:

F. "Subsidiary" of a specified person means an affiliate controlled by that person, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries.

Sec. 5. 24-A MRSA §222, sub-§8, ¶B, as enacted by PL 1975, c. 356, §1, is amended to read:

B. Every insurer subject to registration shall file a registration statement on a form provided by the superintendent, which shall must contain current information about:

(1) The capital structure, general financial condition, ownership and management of the insurer and of any person controlling the insurer;

(2) The following transactions currently outstanding between the insurer and its affiliates:

(a) Loans and other investments, and purchases, sales or exchanges of securities of the affiliate by the insurer or of the insurer by its affiliates;

(b) Purchases, sales or exchanges of assets;

(c) Transactions not in the ordinary course of business;

(d) Guarantees or undertakings for the benefit of an affiliate which that result in an actual contingent exposure of the insurer's assets to liability, other than insurance contracts entered into in the ordinary course of the insurer's business;

(e) All management and service contracts and all cost-sharing arrangements, other than cost allocation arrangements based upon generally accepted accounting principles;

(f) Reinsurance agreements covering all or substantially all of one or more lines of insurance of the ceding insurer; and

(3) Other matters concerning transactions between the insurer and any affiliate as may be required by the superintendent;

Sec. 6. 24-A MRSA §901, as amended by PL 1991, c. 828, §21, is repealed.

Sec. 7. 24-A MRSA §901-A is enacted to read:

§901-A.__Statutory accounting principles; reserves

1.__Principles; admitted assets.__In evaluating the financial condition of an insurer, the superintendent shall determine which assets may be recognized as admitted assets, and shall value the insurer's admitted assets and the insurer's liabilities in accordance with recognized statutory accounting principles as codified by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or its successor organization and reflected in the association's accounting practices and procedures manual and its successor publications and in any permitted accounting practices approved by the superintendent.

2.__Reserve required.__If the superintendent finds, in view of the character of investments held by a domestic insurer, that it would be prudent for the insurer to establish a special reserve for possible losses or fluctuations in the value of its investments, including realty holdings acquired by mortgage loan default, the superintendent may permit or require the insurer to establish such a reserve, reasonable in amount, and may require that the reserve be maintained and reported in any statement or report of the financial condition of the insurer.

3.__Rules.__The superintendent may adopt rules to implement the purposes of this chapter.__These rules are routine technical rules pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter II-A.

Sec. 8. 24-A MRSA §902, as amended by PL 1987, c. 399, §2, is repealed.

Sec. 9. 24-A MRSA c. 11, sub-c. II, as amended, is repealed.

Sec. 10. 24-A MRSA c. 11, sub-c. IV, as amended, is repealed.

Sec. 11. 24-A MRSA §1110, sub-§1-A, ¶¶A and B, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 715, §4, are amended to read:

A. "Admitted assets" has the same meaning as "assets" as defined in section 901 means assets recognized by the superintendent pursuant to section 901-A.

B. "Aggregate amount of investments" means the aggregate value of those investments as determined under sections 981 to 984, except as provided in section 1157, subsection 5 in accordance with statutory accounting principles pursuant to section 901-A and any rules adopted under that section.

Sec. 12. 24-A MRSA §1131, sub-§1, ¶¶A and B, as repealed and replaced by PL 1987, c. 399, §12, are amended to read:

A. The loan or investment shall must fulfill the requirements of section 1103 and otherwise qualify as a sound investment.

B. No such loan or investment may be represented by:

(1) Any item described in section 902 asset determined to be nonadmitted pursuant to section 901-A or rules adopted under that section;

(2) Any loan or investment expressly prohibited under section 1136; or

(3) Agents' balances, or amounts advanced to or owing by agents, except as to mortgage loans and collateral loans to those agents otherwise authorized under this chapter.

Sec. 13. 24-A MRSA §1151-A, sub-§§2 and 3, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 715, §8, are amended to read:

2. Admitted assets. "Admitted assets" means assets that may be allowed in determining the financial condition of an insurer pursuant to sections 901 and 902 recognized by the superintendent pursuant to section 901-A.

3. Aggregate amount of investments. "Aggregate amount of investments" means the aggregate value of those investments, as determined under sections 981 to 984 in accordance with statutory accounting principles pursuant to section 901-A and any rules adopted under that section, except as provided in section 1157, subsection 5.

Sec. 14. 24-A MRSA §1156, sub-§2, ¶H, as amended by PL 1993, c. 313, §27, is further amended to read:

H. Investments that do not qualify or are not permitted under any other paragraph of this subsection; as long as:

(1) After giving effect to any investment made under this paragraph, the aggregate amount of those investments does not exceed 14% of total admitted assets, except that investments made under this paragraph in institutions or property not located within the State may not exceed 10% of total admitted assets; and, if the insurer makes investments described in paragraphs A to G and elects to charge those investments against the quantitative limits in this paragraph instead of the quantitative limits in paragraphs A to G, then the aggregate amount invested under this paragraph in those types of investments may not exceed 5% of total admitted assets for any one of those types of investments;

(2) Investments that are neither interest bearing nor income entitled, including the cost of outstanding bona fide hedging transactions made under section 1153, subsection 2, are subject to all of the provisions of this paragraph; and the aggregate amount of those investments held at any one time may not exceed 3% of total admitted assets;

(3) The investment limitations contained in this chapter, qualitative or otherwise, may do not apply to loans or investments made or acquired under this paragraph, provided that no loan or investment made or acquired under this paragraph may be represented by any item described in section 902 asset determined to be nonadmitted pursuant to section 901-A or rules adopted under that section; any loan or investment expressly prohibited under section 1160; or agents' balances, or amounts advanced to or owing by agents, except as to policy loans, mortgage loans and collateral loans to those agents otherwise authorized under this chapter; or

(4) The insurer shall keep a separate record of all loans and investments made or acquired under this paragraph. Any such loan or investment that, subsequent to the date of making or acquisition, has attained the standard of eligibility and qualifies under any other provision of this chapter may be considered to have been made or acquired under and in compliance with that provision and may no longer be considered to have been made or acquired under this paragraph.

Sec. 15. 24-A MRSA §1157, sub-§5, ¶D, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 399, §14, is amended to read:

D. Investments made or acquired by subsidiaries referred to in paragraph B, subparagraph (1), shall be are considered to be made or acquired directly by the insurer, pro rata, in the case of a subsidiary not wholly owned, and shall, to such extent, be are subject to all the provisions and limitations on the making of investments specified in this chapter with respect to investments by the insurer; shall must be valued in accordance with the provisions of sections 981 to 984 section 901-A and any other applicable provisions of this Title and any applicable rules adopted by the superintendent; and shall must be located pursuant to section 3408. Those subsidiaries shall be are subject to examination by the superintendent under section 221, subsection 1, and section 222, subsection 1.

Sec. 16. 24-A MRSA §1157, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 399, §14, is amended to read:

6. Valuation of subsidiary stock. In determining the financial condition of an insurer, all investments made directly or indirectly in the stock of its subsidiaries shall must be valued in accordance with section 982, subsection 3, and regulations promulgated 901-A and any rules adopted under that section.

Sec. 17. 24-A MRSA §3629, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 1969, c. 132, §1, is repealed.

Sec. 18. 24-A MRSA §3629, sub-§6-A is enacted to read:

6-A.__Section 901-A (statutory accounting principles);

Sec. 19. 24-A MRSA §4204, sub-§2-A, ¶D, as corrected by RR 1993, c. 1, §67, is amended to read:

D. The health maintenance organization is financially responsible, complies with the minimum surplus requirements of this section and, among other factors, can reasonably be expected to meet its obligations to enrollees and prospective enrollees.

(1) In a determination of minimum surplus requirements, the following terms have the following meanings.

(a) "Admitted assets" means assets as defined in section 901 recognized by the superintendent pursuant to section 901-A. For purposes of this chapter, the asset value is that contained in the annual statement of the corporation as of December 31st of the year preceding the making of the investment or contained in any audited financial report, as defined in section 221-A, of more current origin.

(b) "Reserves" means those reserves held by corporations subject to this chapter for the protection of subscribers. For purposes of this chapter, the reserve value is that contained in the annual statement of the corporation as of December 31st of the preceding year or any audited financial report, as defined in section 221-A, of more current origin.

(2) In making the determination whether the health maintenance organization is financially responsible, the superintendent may also consider:

(a) The financial soundness of the health maintenance organization's arrangements for health care services and the schedule of charges used;

(b) The adequacy of working capital;

(c) Any agreement with an insurer, a nonprofit hospital or medical service corporation, a government or any other organization for insuring or providing the payment of the cost of health care services or the provision for automatic applicability of an alternative coverage in the event of discontinuance of the plan;

(d) Any agreement with providers for the provision of health care services that contains a covenant consistent with subsection 6; and

(e) Any arrangements for insurance coverage or an adequate plan for self-insurance to respond to claims for injuries arising out of the furnishing of health care services.

SUMMARY

This bill modernizes the laws governing accounting standards for insurers by adopting the statutory insurance accounting practices that have been codified by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC, on a nationwide basis effective January 1, 2001. This bill repeals conflicting or superfluous provisions of the chapter of the Maine Insurance Code relating to valuation of insurers' assets and liabilities and updates the pertinent cross-references. The bill also corrects an error in the definition of "subsidiary" in the holding company law and incorporates a change to the transactions-with-affiliates section that was inadvertently omitted from prior accreditation legislation.