§ 58-47-110. Premium rates.
§58‑47‑110. Premium rates.
(a) As used in thissection:
(1) "Bureau"means the North Carolina Rate Bureau in Article 36 of this Chapter.
(2) "Expenses"means that portion of a premium rate attributable to acquisition, fieldsupervision, collection expenses, and general expenses, as determined by thegroup.
(3) "Multiplier"means a group's determination of the expenses, other than loss expense and lossadjustment expense, associated with writing workers' compensation andemployers' liability insurance, which shall be expressed as a singlenonintegral number to be applied equally and uniformly to the prospective losscosts approved by the Commissioner in making rates for each classification ofrisks utilized by that group.
(4) "Prospectiveloss costs" means that portion of a rate that does not include provisionsfor expenses (other than loss adjustment expenses) or profit and that is basedon historical aggregate losses and loss adjustment expenses adjusted throughdevelopment to their ultimate value and forecasted through trending to a futurepoint in time.
(5) "Supplementaryrating information" means any manual or plan of rates, classification,rating schedule, minimum premium, policy fee, rating rule, rate‑relatedunderwriting rule, experience rating plan, statistical plan, and any othersimilar information needed to determine the applicable rate in effect or to bein effect.
(b) Rates and theeffective date shall be submitted by the group to the Commissioner for priorapproval in the form of a rate filing. The rate filing:
(1) Shall be on a formprescribed by the Commissioner and shall be supported by competent analysis,prepared by an actuary who is a member in good standing of the CasualtyActuarial Society or the American Academy of Actuaries, demonstrating that theresulting rates meet the standards of not being excessive, inadequate, orunfairly discriminatory;
(2) Shall have the finalrates and the effective date determined independently and individually by thegroup;
(3) Shall have manualrates that are the combination of the prospective loss costs and themultiplier;
(4) Shall file any otherinformation that the group considers relevant and shall provide any otherinformation requested by the Commissioner;
(5) Shall be consideredcomplete when the required information and all additional information requestedby the Commissioner is received by the Commissioner. When a filing is notaccompanied by the information required under this section, the Commissionershall inform the group within 30 days after the initial filing that the filingis incomplete and shall note the deficiencies. If information required by arate filing or requested by the Commissioner is not maintained or cannot beprovided, the group shall certify that to the Commissioner;
(6) May includedeviations to the prospective loss cost based on the group's anticipatedexperience. Sufficient documentation supporting the deviations and the impactof the deviation shall be included in the rate filing. Expense loads, whethervariable, fixed, or a combination of variable and fixed, may vary by individualclassification or grouping. Each filing that varies the expense load by classshall specify the expense factor applicable to each class and shall includeinformation supporting the justification for the variation;
(7) Shall include anyproposed use of a premium‑sized discount program, a schedule ratingprogram, a small deductible credit program or an expense constant or minimumpremium, and the use shall be supported in the rate filing; and
(8) Shall be deemedapproved, unless disapproved by the Commissioner in writing, within 60 daysafter the rate filing is made in its entirety. A group is not required torefile rates previously approved until two years after the effective date ofthis Part.
(c) At the time of therate filing, a group may request to have its approved multiplier remain ineffect and continue to use either the prospective loss cost filing in effect atthe time of the rate filing or the prospective loss cost filing in effect atthe time of the filing, along with all other subsequent prospective loss costfilings, as approved.
(d) To the extent thata group's manual rates are determined solely by applying its multiplier, aspresented and approved in the rate filing, to the prospective loss costscontained in the Bureau's reference filing and printed in the Bureau's ratingmanual, the group need not develop or file its final rate pages with theCommissioner. If a group chooses to print and distribute final rate pages forits own use, based solely upon the application of its filed prospective losscosts, the group need not file those pages with the Commissioner. If the Bureaudoes not print the prospective loss costs in its manual, the group shall submitits rates to the Commissioner.
(e) If a new filing ofrules, relativities, and supplementary rating information is filed by theBureau and approved:
(1) The group shall notfile anything with the Commissioner if the group decides to use the revisionsas filed, with the effective date as filed together with the prospective lossmultiplier on file with the Commissioner.
(2) The group shallnotify the Commissioner of its effective date before the Bureau filing'seffective date if the group decides to use the revisions as filed but with adifferent effective date.
(3) The group shallnotify the Commissioner before the Bureau filing's effective date if the groupdecides not to use the revision or revisions.
(4) The group shall filethe modification with the Commissioner, for approval, specifying the basis forthe modification and the group's proposed effective date if different from theBureau filing's effective date, if the group decides to use the revision withdeviations.
(f) Every group shalladhere to the uniform classification plan and experience rating plan filed bythe Bureau.
(g) Groups shallmaintain data in accordance with the uniform statistical plan approved by theCommissioner.
(h) Each group shallsubmit annually a rate certification, signed by an actuary who is a member ingood standing of the Casualty Actuarial Society or the American Academy ofActuaries, which states that the group's prospective rates are not excessive,inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory. The certification is to accompany thegroup's rate filing. If a rate filing is not required, the actuarial ratecertification is to be submitted by the end of the calendar year. (1997‑362,s. 3.)