Section 12959 Of Article 3. Procuring Information On Policies From California Insurance Code >> Division 3. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 3.
12959
. (a) On January 1, 1990, and on every January 1, thereafter,
the commissioner shall publish and distribute a comparison of
insurance rates report for those lines of insurance which, in the
comissioner's judgment, are of most interest to individual purchasers
of personal lines of coverage. The report shall be available to
consumers. The distribution shall be designed to make consumers
throughout the state aware of the content of the report. This report
shall be prepared by the commissioner in a manner designed to provide
information useful to consumers so that they may make informed
comparisons of coverages and rates.
(b) The submission of any false rate information by any such
insurer pursuant to a request of the commissioner for the purpose of
compiling comparative data for the report to be published as required
in subdivision (a), shall be punishable by a civil penalty not to
exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). Any person subject to
regulation by the commissioner pursuant to this code that fails to
comply with a data call required by the department pursuant to this
section shall be liable to the state for a civil penalty in an amount
not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each 30-day period
that the person is not in compliance, unless the failure to comply is
willful, in which case the civil penalty shall be in an amount not
to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each 30-day period that
the person is not in compliance, but not to exceed an aggregate
amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). In determining the
level of the penalty, the commissioner shall consider the good faith
of the insurer and any similar prior violations by the insurer under
this code.