§ 27-71-4 - Domestic responsibility and deference to other states.
SECTION 27-71-4
§ 27-71-4 Domestic responsibility anddeference to other states. – (a) The commissioner is authorized to conduct market conduct examinations asdeemed necessary by the commissioner for Rhode Island policyholder protection,which shall be accomplished by comprehensive or targeted examinations ofdomestic insurers and targeted examinations of foreign insurers, based on theresults of market analysis. The commissioner may delegate responsibility forconducting an examination of a domestic insurer, foreign insurer, or anaffiliate of an insurer to the insurance commissioner of another state if thatinsurance commissioner agrees to accept the delegated responsibility for theexamination.
(b) The commissioner may delegate such responsibility to acommissioner of a state in which the domestic insurer, foreign insurer, oraffiliate has a significant number of policies or significant premium volume.
(c) If the commissioner elected to delegate responsibilityfor examining an insurer, the commissioner shall accept a report of theexamination prepared by the commissioner to whom the responsibility has beendelegated.
(d) In lieu of conducting a market conduct examination of aninsurer, the commissioner shall accept a report of a market conduct examinationon such insurer prepared by the insurance commissioner of the insurer's stateof domicile or another state, unless:
(1) The laws of that state applicable to the subject of theexamination are not deemed by the commissioner to be substantially similar tothose of this state;
(2) The examining state does not have market conductsurveillance system that the commissioner deems comparable to the marketconducted surveillance system required under this chapter; or
(3) The examination from the other state's commissioner hasnot be conducted within the past three (3) years.
(e) If the insurance commissioner or the designee to whom theexamination responsibility was delegated pursuant to paragraph (a) of thissection or the report of a market conduct examination prepared by the insurancecommissioner of another state pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section, didnot evaluate the specific area or issue of concern to the commissioner or aspecific requirement of Rhode Island law, the commissioner may pursue atargeted examination or market analysis of the unexamined area pursuant to thisstatute.
(f) The commissioner's determination under subsection (d) isdiscretionary with the commissioner and is not subject to appeal.
(g) Subject to a determination under subsection (d), if amarket conduct examination conducted by another state results in a finding thatan insurer should modify a specific practice or procedure, the commissionershall accept documentation that the insurer has made a similar modification inthe state, in lieu of initiating a market conduct action or examination relatedto that practice or procedure. The commissioner may require other or additionalpractice or procedure modifications as are necessary to achieve compliance withspecific state laws or regulations, which differ substantially from those ofthe state that conducted the examination.