17:27A-1 Definitions.

1. Definitions.

As used in P.L.1970, c.22 (C.17:27A-1 et seq.), the following terms shall have the respective meanings hereinafter set forth, unless the context shall otherwise require:

a. An "affiliate" of, or person "affiliated" with, a specific person, is a person that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, the person specified.

b. The term "commissioner" shall mean the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance or the commissioner's deputies.

c. The term "control" (including the terms "controlling," "controlled by" and "under common control with") means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. Control shall be presumed to exist if any person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote, or holds proxies representing, 10% or more of the voting securities of any other person, provided that no such presumption of control shall of itself relieve any person so presumed to have control from any requirement of P.L.1970, c.22 (C.17:27A-1 et seq.). This presumption may be rebutted by a showing made in the manner provided by subsection j. of section 3 of P.L.1970, c.22 (C.17:27A-3) that control does not exist in fact. The commissioner may determine, after furnishing all persons in interest notice and an opportunity to be heard, and making specific findings of fact to support such determination, that control exists in fact, notwithstanding the absence of a presumption to that effect.

d. An "insurance holding company system" consists of two or more affiliated persons, one or more of which is an insurer.

e. The term "insurer" means any person or persons, corporation, partnership or company authorized by the laws of this State to transact the business of insurance or to operate a health maintenance organization in this State, except that it shall not include agencies, authorities or instrumentalities of the United States, its possessions and territories, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, or a state or political subdivision of a state.

f. A "person" is an individual, a corporation, a limited liability company, partnership, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, any similar entity or any combination of the foregoing acting in concert.

g. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1993, c.241).

h. A "subsidiary" of a specified person is an affiliate controlled by such person directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries.

i. The term "voting security" shall include any security convertible into or evidencing a right to acquire a voting security.

j. "Acquisition" means any agreement, arrangement or activity, the consummation of which results in a person acquiring directly or indirectly the control of another person, and includes but is not limited to the acquisition of voting securities, and assets, and bulk reinsurance and mergers.

k. "Health maintenance organization" means any person operating under a certificate of authority issued pursuant to P.L.1973, c.337 (C.26:2J-1 et seq.).

l. "Enterprise risk" means any activity, circumstance, event or series of events involving one or more affiliates of an insurer that, if not remedied promptly, is likely to have a material adverse effect upon the financial condition or liquidity of the insurer or its insurance holding company system as a whole, including, but not limited to, anything that would cause the insurer's Risk-Based Capital to fall into company action level as set forth in administrative rules adopted by the commissioner which reflect the standards set forth in the Risk-Based Capital For Insurers Model Act adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or would cause the insurer to be in hazardous financial condition as defined in administrative rules adopted by the commissioner which reflect the standards set forth in the Model Regulation adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to define standards and the commissioner's authority over companies deemed to be in a hazardous financial condition.

L.1970, c.22, s.1; amended 1993, c.241, s.1; 2001, c.2, s.2; 2012, c.17, s.30; 2014, c.81, s.1.