A. There is created an "insurance fraud fund" in the state treasury. All fees collected pursuant to the provisions of the Insurance Fraud Act shall be deposited in the fund and are subject to appropriation for use in paying the expenses incurred by the superintendent in carrying out the provisions of the Insurance Fraud Act. Interest on the fund shall be credited to the fund. The fund is a continuing, nonreverting fund.

B. To implement the provisions of the Insurance Fraud Act, the superintendent shall determine a rate of assessment and collect a fee from authorized insurers in an amount not less than two hundred dollars ($200) and not exceeding one-tenth of one percent of the correctly reported direct written premiums on policies written in New Mexico by the authorized insurers. The fee shall be due annually pursuant to rules promulgated by the superintendent. The failure of an insurer to pay this fee when due shall subject the insurer to a penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) per month or part thereof in which the fee remains unpaid. The superintendent, after taking into account unexpended money produced by collection of the fee, shall adjust the rate of assessment each year to produce the amount of money that the superintendent estimates will be necessary to pay expenses incurred by the superintendent in carrying out the provisions of the Insurance Fraud Act.

C. In calculating the direct written premiums for an insurer pursuant to the provisions of this section, all direct written premiums for workers' compensation insurance and for all types of insurance that are exempted by federal law shall be excluded from the calculation.

D. The fees required by this section are in addition to all other taxes and fees now imposed or that may be subsequently imposed.

History: Laws 1998, ch. 115, § 14; 1999, ch. 131, § 1; 2017, ch. 130, § 13.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, provided that fraud assessment fees are due annually and provided a penalty for late payment of fraud assessment fees; in Subsection A, after "collected", deleted "under" and added "pursuant to"; and in Subsection B, added "The fee shall be due annually pursuant to rules promulgated by the superintendent. The failure of an insurer to pay this fee when due shall subject the insurer to a penalty of one thousand dollars ($1,000) per month or part thereof in which the fee remains unpaid.", and deleted "The assessment for a title insurer, as defined in Section 59A-30-3 NMSA 1978, shall be determined by the superintendent at the annual hearing conducted pursuant to Section 59A-30-8 NMSA 1978"; and in Subsection C, after "workers' compensation insurance", added "and for all types of insurance that are exempted by federal law".

The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, deleted 'hereby" following "created" in Subsection A, deleted "upon the effective date of the Insurance Fraud Act" preceding "the superintendent", added the last sentence in Subsection B, and deleted "gross" preceding "direct" in Subsections B and C.