(a) Each insurer doing business in this state shall pay an annual special purpose assessment to be determined by the commissioner in an amount not to exceed fifty cents ($0.50) for each vehicle insured under an insurance policy it issues in this state, in order to fund the Fraud Division and the Organized Automobile Fraud Activity Interdiction Program.
(b) (1) From the funds to be distributed to district attorneys under this section, the commissioner shall fund between three and 10 grants at any one time for a coordinated program targeted at the successful prosecution and elimination of organized automobile fraud activity. These grants may be awarded only to district attorneys.
(2) In determining whether to award a district attorney a grant pursuant to this subdivision, the commissioner shall consider factors indicating organized automobile fraud activity in the district attorney’s county, including, but not limited to, the county’s level of general criminal activity, population density, automobile insurance claims frequency, number of suspected fraudulent claims, and prior and current evidence of organized automobile fraud activity. Funding priority shall be given to those grant applications with the potential to have the greatest impact on reducing organized automobile insurance fraud activity committed by an insurer’s employees or agents, brokers, insureds, and others, and lessening the economic losses realized by insurers from that fraud.
(3) All participants of a grant under this subdivision shall coordinate their efforts and work in conjunction with the Fraud Division, other participating agencies, and all interested insurers in this regard.
(c) Of the funds collected pursuant to this section, upon appropriation by the Legislature, 42.5 percent shall be distributed to district attorneys, 42.5 percent shall be distributed to the Fraud Division, and 15 percent shall be distributed to the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Funds distributed pursuant to this section to the Fraud Division and to the Department of the California Highway Patrol shall be used to fund Fraud Division and Department of the California Highway Patrol investigators to work in conjunction with district attorneys who are awarded grants. Each grantee shall be notified by the Fraud Division of the identity of the investigators assigned to work with the grantee. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable grant, each grantee shall provide the Fraud Division with information resulting from the investigations the grantee conducts pursuant to this section. This section does not prohibit the referral of any cases developed by the Fraud Division to any appropriate prosecutorial entity.
(d) A grant under this section shall be awarded on the basis of a single application for a period of three years and shall be subject where applicable to the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 1872.8, except for the requirement that grants be awarded according to population. Continued funding of a grant shall be contingent upon a grantee’s successful performance, as determined by an annual review by the commissioner. Any redirection of grant funds under this section shall be made only for good cause. The Department of the California Highway Patrol shall submit to the commissioner, for informational purposes only, an annual report on its expenditure of funds under this section in the same format as is required of grantees under this section.
(e) Two or more district attorneys may submit a joint application for a grant award under this section.
(f) The Fraud Division shall report to the Governor, the Legislature, and to the committees of the Senate and Assembly having jurisdiction over insurance on the results of the grant program established by this section, including funding distributed to the Department of the California Highway Patrol in the annual report submitted pursuant to Section 12922.
(g) For purposes of this section, “organized automobile fraud activity” means two or more persons who conspire, aid and abet, or in any other manner act together, to engage in economic automobile theft as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 1872.8, or to violate any of the following sections in a manner that involved an automobile insurance claim:
(1) Section 650 or 6152 of the Business and Professions Code.
(2) Section 750.
(3) Section 549, 550, or 551 of the Penal Code.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 2013, Ch. 347, Sec. 5. (SB 476) Effective January 1, 2014.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018