Florida Senate - 2009 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 1372
Barcode 454688
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: WD .
03/25/2009 .
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The Committee on Criminal Justice (Dean) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 236 - 257
4 and insert:
5 Section 9. Subsections (3) and (5) of section 627.4554,
6 Florida Statutes, as amended by section 9 of chapter 2008-237,
7 Laws of Florida, are amended, and subsection (10) is added to
8 that section, to read:
9 627.4554 Annuity investments by seniors.—
10 (3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the term:
11 (a) “Annuity contract” means a fixed annuity, equity
12 indexed annuity, fixed equity indexed annuity, or variable
13 annuity that is individually solicited, whether the product is
14 classified as an individual annuity or a group annuity.
15 (b) “Accredited investor” means any person who comes within
16 any of the following categories, or who the issuer reasonably
17 believes comes within any of the following categories, at the
18 time of the sale of an annuity to that person:
19 1. The person’s net worth or joint net worth with his or
20 her spouse, at the time of the purchase, exceeds $1 million; or
21 2. The person had an individual income in excess of
22 $200,000 in each of the 2 most recent years, or joint income
23 with his or her spouse in excess of $300,000 in each of those
24 years, and has a reasonable expectation of reaching the same
25 income level in the current year.
26 (c)(b) “Recommendation” means advice provided by an
27 insurance agent, or an insurer if no insurance agent is
28 involved, to an individual senior consumer which results in a
29 purchase or exchange of an annuity in accordance with that
30 advice.
31 (d)(c) “Senior consumer” means a person 65 years of age or
32 older. In the event of a joint purchase by more than one party,
33 a purchaser is considered to be a senior consumer if any of the
34 parties is age 65 or older.
35 (5) MITIGATION OF RESPONSIBILITY.—
36 (a) The office may order an insurer to take reasonably
37 appropriate corrective action, including rescission of the
38 policy or contract and a full refund of the premiums paid or the
39 accumulation value, whichever is greater, for any senior
40 consumer harmed by a violation of this section by the insurer or
41 the insurer’s insurance agent.
42 (b) The department may order:
43 1. An insurance agent to take reasonably appropriate
44 corrective action, including monetary restitution of penalties
45 or fees incurred by the senior consumer, for any senior consumer
46 harmed by a willful violation of this section by the insurance
47 agent.
48 2. A managing general agency or insurance agency that
49 employs or contracts with an insurance agent to sell or solicit
50 the sale of annuities to senior consumers to take reasonably
51 appropriate corrective action for any senior consumer harmed by
52 a violation of this section by the insurance agent.
53 (c) The department shall, in addition to any other penalty
54 authorized under chapter 626, order an insurance agent to pay
55 restitution to any senior consumer who has been deprived of
56 money by the agent’s misappropriation, conversion, or unlawful
57 withholding of moneys belonging to the senior consumer in the
58 course of a transaction involving annuities. The amount of
59 restitution required to be paid pursuant to this paragraph may
60 not exceed the amount misappropriated, converted, or unlawfully
61 withheld. This paragraph does not limit or restrict a person’s
62 right to seek other remedies as provided by law.
63 (d)(c) Any applicable penalty under the Florida Insurance
64 Code for a violation of paragraph (4)(a), paragraph (4)(b), or
65 subparagraph (4)(c)2. may be reduced or eliminated, according to
66 a schedule adopted by the office or the department, as
67 appropriate, if corrective action for the senior consumer was
68 taken promptly after a violation was discovered.
69 (10) An annuity contract issued to a senior consumer may
70 not contain a surrender or deferred sales charge for a
71 withdrawal of money from an annuity exceeding 10 percent of the
72 amount withdrawn. The charge shall be reduced annually by 1
73 percent so that no surrender or deferred sales charge exists
74 after the end of the tenth policy year or at any time
75 thereafter. This subsection does not apply to annuities
76 purchased by an accredited investor.
77
78 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
79 And the title is amended as follows:
80 Delete lines 34 - 40
81 and insert:
82 627.4554, F.S.; defining the term “accredited investor”;
83 authorizing the Department of Financial Services to order an
84 insurance agent to pay monetary restitution to a senior consumer
85 under certain circumstances; limiting the amount of such
86 restitution; prohibiting an annuity contract issued to a senior
87 consumer from containing a surrender or deferred sales charge
88 for withdrawal of funds from an annuity in excess of a specified
89 maximum amount; providing for the periodic reduction of such
90 charge; providing for applicability; providing an effective
91 date.