Chap. 159.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 75 of chapter 400 of the
acts of the general assembly of 1918, page 637, commonly known as the
workmen’s compensation act, as last amended by chapter 445 of the acts of
the general assembly of 1928, page 1136. [H B 246]

Approved March 20, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
seventy-five of chapter four hundred, of the acts of the general as-
sembly of nineteen hundred and eighteen, page six hundred and thirty-
seven, commonly known as the workmen’s compensation act, as last
amended by chapter four hundred and forty-five, of the acts of the
general assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, page eleven
hundred and thirty-six, to be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows:

Section 75. (a) The rates charged by all carriers of insurance,
including the parties to any mutual, reciprocal, or other association,
writing insurance against the liability for compensation, under this
act, shall be fair, reasonable and adequate, and all risks of the same
kind and degree of hazard shall be written at the same rate by the same
carrier. Subject to such rules as the State corporation commission
may prescribe, the basic rates may be modified in accordance with a
plan of physical or schedule, and experience rating.

After ninety days from the date this act becomes effective, no such
company shall do any business in this State without a permit from the
State corporation commission. Such permit shall be given upon appli-
cation therefor, to any such company upon the said commission being
satishied of the solvency of such company and its ability to perform
all its undertakings; provided, if it be a foreign corporation, it has
complied with the provisions of section thirty-eight hundred and forty-
seven of the Code of Virginia; and provided further, that the ‘rates
which such company, whether domestic or foreign, proposes to charge
for writing insurance under the provisions of this act, be approved by
the commission as next herein provided.

Every such company shall, within thirty days from the date this
act becomes effective, file with the State corporation commission, where
the same shall be kept open for public inspection, schedules showing
the rates charged, or proposed to be charged, for writing insurance
oii the various kinds of risks, which such company proposes to carry,
and the rates for any and all renewals thereof; and no such company
shall be granted a permit to do business in Virginia unless and until
such rates shall be approved by said commission, nor shall any policy
written by any such company without such permit be valid.

Upon any such schedules of rates being so filed, the said commission
shall forthwith notify such company in writing, whether or not the
same meets with its approval, and if not, it shall in said notification,
appoint a day not less than thirty days from the date thereof, for a
hearing thereon.

It, upon such hearing, it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction
of the said commission that the rates set forth in such schedule are
fair and reasonable, the same shall be set up, approved and established,
and a permit issued to such company as provided for in section two
of this act. If however, the commission, after a full hearing and
investigation, shall be of the opinion that such rates, or any of them,
are untair, unreasonable or discriminatory, it shall have the right to
set up a schedule of ‘rates which it may deem to be just and reasonable.
If such company shall agree to the schedule of rates so set up, such
agreement shall be entered of record by the commission and such
schedule shall be the established rates for such company, and a permit
shall thereupon be issued to it as hereinbefore provided. If such com-
pany shall not be satisfied with the schedule of rates so set up by the
commission, it shall have the right of appeal to the supreme court
of appeals from such decision or order as the commission may finally
enter.

No change shall thereafter be made in any such schedule of rates,
approved and established by the commission except upon proceedings
similar to, and conducted in the same manner and proceedings for
change of rates, as set forth in section four thousand and sixty-six of
the Code of Virginia, and acts amendatory thereof, and the proceedings
on appeals as herein provided for, shall be similar to proceedings on
appeals as set forth in the same section.

The commission shall have the right to revoke any permit issued
to any such company, for violation of any provision of this act.

(b) Each such insurance carrier shall report to the State corpora-
tion commission, in accordance with such reasonable rules as the com-
mission may at any time prescribe, for the purpose of determining the
solvency of the carrier, and the fairness, reasonableness and adequacy
of its rates: for such purpose the said commission may inspect the
books and records of such insurance carrier, and examine its agents,
officers and directors under oath; and said commission shall have the
power to, in such manner and by such means as it may deem proper
and adequate, gather statistics and information, and make investiga-
tions concerning rates for such insurance, and to that end, it may take
into consideration, the income and earnings from any and every source
whatever, of any such company, and shall at any time, call upon mem-
bers of the industrial commission to sit with it in an advisory capacity,
at any investigation or hearing concerning such rates.

Authority is hereby conferred upon the State corporation commis-
sion to make such arrangements with the industrial commission, as may
be agreeable to the industrial commission, for collecting, compiling, pre-
serving and publishing statistical and other data in connection with
the work of regulating workmen’s compensation insurance rates, and
for the division of the expenses thereof, to the end that duplication of
work and expenditures may be avoided; and whenever it deems proper,
with the consent of the industrial commission, 1t may appoint members
of the industrial commission, or its employees, as special agents of the
State corporation commission to take testimony and make reports with
reference to any matter involving questions of workmen’s compensation
insurance rates.

(c) For the purpose of paying the salaries and necessary ex-
penses of the industrial commission and its assistants and emplovees in
administering and carrying out the provisions of this act, an adminis-
trative fund shall be created and maintained in the following manner:

Every person, partnership, association, corporation, whether or-
ganized under the laws of this or any other State or country, company,
mutual company or association, the parties to any inter-indemnity con-
tract or reciprocal plan or scheme, and every other insurance carrier,
insuring employers in this State against liability for personal injuries
to their employees, or death caused thereby, under the provisions of
this act, shall, as hereinafter provided, pay a tax upon the premiums
received, whether in cash or notes, in this State or on account of busi-
ness done in this State, for such insurance in this State, at the rate of
two and one-half per centum of the amount of such premium which
tax shall be in lieu of all other taxes on such premiums, which tax
shall be assessed and collected as hereinafter provided; provided, how-
ever, that such insurance carriers shall be credited with all cancelled or
returned premiums, actually refunded during the year on such insur-
ance, and with premiums on reinsurance with companies authorized
and licensed to transact business in Virginia, which reinsurance shall
be reported by the reinsurer, but no credit shall be allowed for rein-
surance in companies not licensed to transact business in Virginia.

(d) Every such insurance carrier shall, for the twelve months
ending December thirty-first of each year, make a return verified by
the affidavit of its president and secretary, or other chief officers or
agents, to the industrial commission of Virginia stating the amount
of such premiums and credits during the period covered by such
return.

The State corporation commission shall have access at all times
to the records so filed with the industrial commission by such insur-
ance carriers, and may require such additional information as it deems
necessary for the performance of the duties herein conferred upon
said commission.

Itvery insurance carrier required to make such return shall file the
same with the industrial commisison of Virginia within thirty days
after the close of the period covered thereby and shall at the same
time pay into the State treasury a tax of two and one-half dollars on
each one hundred dollars of such preniium ascertained as provided in
subsection (c) hereof, less returned premiums on cancelled policies
and reinsurance with other companies licensed to transact business in
this State. Upon receiving such payments the comptroller shall place
the whole thereof to the credit of the fund for the administration of
this act, and shall pay same out in the manner provided by section
twenty-two and one-half of chapter thirty-three of the acts of the
general assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-seven.

(e) If any such insurance carrier shall fail or refuse to make
the return required by this act, the said corporation commission shall
assess the tax against such insurance carrier at the rate herein pro-
vided for, on such amount of premiums as it may deem just, and the
proceedings thereon shall be the same as if the return had been made.

(f{) If any such insurance carrier shall withdraw from business
in this State before the tax shall fall due, as herein provided, or shall
fail or neglect to pay such tax, the comptroller shall at once proceed to
collect the same, and he is hereby empowered and authorized to employ
such legal process as may be necessary for that purpose, and when so
collected he shall pay the same into the State treasury. The suit may be
brought by the comptroller, in his official capacity, in any court of
this State having jurisdiction; reasonable attorneys’ fee may be taxed
as costs therein, and process may issue to any county of the State, and
may be served as in civil actions, or in case of unincorporated associa-
tions, partnerships, inter-indemnity contracts or other plan or scheme,
upon any agent of the parties thereto upon whom process may be
served under the laws of this State.

(g) Any person or persons who shall in this State, act or assume
to act as agent for any such insurance carrier whose authority to do
business in this State has been suspended, while such suspension re-
mains in force, or shall neglect or refuse to comply with any of the
provisions of this section obligatory upon such persons or party or who
shall wilfully make a false, or fraudulent statement of the business or
condition of any such insurance carrier or false or fraudulent return
as herein provided, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hun-
dred nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not
less than ten nor more than ninety days, or both such fine and imprison-
ment, in the discretion of the jury.

(h) Whenever by this act or the terms of any policy contract, any
officer sis required to give any notice to any insurance carrier, the same
may be given by delivery, or by mailing by registered letter properly
addressed and stamped to the principal office or chief agent of such
insurance carrier within this State, or to its home office, or to the secre-
tary, general agent, or chief officer thereof in the United States.

(i) Any insurance carrier liable to pay a tax upon premiums under
this act shall not be liable to pay any other or further tax upon such
premiums, or on account thereof, under any other law of this State.

(j) Every employer carrying his own risk under the provisions
of section sixty-eight shall, under oath, report to the industrial com-
mission, his payroll, subject to the provisions of this act. Such report
shall be made in form prescribed by the said commission and at the
time herein provided for premium reports by insurer. The said com-
mission shall assess against such payroll a maintenance fund tax com-
puted by taking two and one-half per centum of the basis premiums
chargeable against the same or most similar industry or business, taken
from the manual insurance rate for compensation then in force in this
State, or, in its discretion, of such premiums modified in accordance
with an experience rating determined by the records of the commis-
sion, which tax shall be paid as provided in subsection (d) of this
section, and if not so paid, the same shall be collected by the comptroller
in the manner provided in subsection (f) of this section.

The State corporation commission shall at all times have access to
the reports herein required to be made to the industrial commission by
self-insurers for the purpose of performing the duties imposed upon
said commission under this act.

(k) The industrial commission shall not be authorized to incur
expenses or indebtedness during any period, chargeable against the
maintenance fund, in excess of the premium tax payable to such fund
for the same period. If it be ascertained that the tax collected for a
given period exceeds the total chargeable against the maintenance
fund under the provisions of this act, the said commission may au-
thorize a corresponding credit upon the collection for the succeeding
period,