Minnesota Session Laws - 1998, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 375-S.F.No. 2928 
                  An act relating to insurance; prohibiting affiliates 
                  of insurance companies from engaging in rebating that 
                  is illegal for insurance companies; amending Minnesota 
                  Statutes 1996, section 72A.08, subdivisions 1, 2, and 
                  3. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 72A.08, 
        subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [REBATE DEFINED AND PROHIBITED.] No 
        insurance company or association, however constituted or 
        entitled, including any affiliate of the insurance company or 
        association, doing business in this state, nor any officer, 
        agent, subagent, solicitor, employee, intermediary, or 
        representative thereof, shall make or permit any advantage or 
        distinction in favor of any insured individual, firm, 
        corporation, or association with respect to the amount of 
        premium named in, or to be paid on, any policy of insurance, or 
        shall offer to pay or allow directly or indirectly or by means 
        of any device or artifice, as inducements to insurance, any 
        rebate or premium payable on the policy, or any special favor or 
        advantage in the dividends or other profit to accrue thereon, or 
        any valuable consideration or inducement not specified in the 
        policy contract of insurance, or give, sell, or purchase, offer 
        to give, sell or purchase, as inducement to insure or in 
        connection therewith, any stocks, bonds, or other securities of 
        any insurance company or other corporation, association, 
        partnership, or individual, or any dividends or profits accrued 
        or to accrue thereon, or anything of value, not specified in the 
        policy.  For purposes of this section, "affiliate" has the 
        meaning given in section 60D.15, subdivision 2. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 72A.08, 
        subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 2.  [INSURED PROHIBITED FROM RECEIVING REBATES.] No 
        person shall receive or accept from any such company or 
        association, including any affiliate of the insurance company or 
        association, or from any of its officers, agents, subagents, 
        solicitors, employees, intermediaries, or representatives, or 
        any other person any such rebate of premium payable on the 
        policy, or any special favor or advantage in the dividends or 
        other financial profits accrued, or to accrue, thereon, or any 
        valuable consideration or inducement not specified in the policy 
        of insurance.  No person shall be excused from testifying, or 
        from producing any books, papers, contracts, agreements, or 
        documents, at the trial of any other person, copartnership, 
        association, or company charged with violation of any provision 
        of this section on the ground that the testimony or evidence may 
        tend to incriminate; but no person shall be prosecuted for any 
        act concerning which the person shall be compelled to so testify 
        or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except for 
        perjury committed in so testifying.  
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 72A.08, 
        subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 3.  [PENALTY FOR REBATE.] Any company, association, 
        or individual violating any provisions of this section, whether 
        the violation be in the giving or accepting of anything herein 
        prohibited, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $60 nor 
        more than $200.  In the case of a violation by an affiliate or 
        by an individual on behalf of an affiliate, this subdivision 
        applies to the insurance company or association. 
           Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Sections 1 to 3 are effective August 1, 1998. 
           Presented to the governor April 7, 1998 
           Signed by the governor April 9, 1998, 10:45 a.m.