Chap. 229.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 75 of Chapter 400 of the Act
of the General Assembly of 1918, page 637, commonly known as “The Work
men’s Compensation Act,” as last amended by Chapter 159 of the Acts of th
General Assembly of 1930, page 407. [S B 243

Approved March 16, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section seventy-five of chapter four hundred, of the Acts of the Genera
Assembly of nineteen hundred and eighteen, page six hundred anc
thirty-seven, commonly known as the Workmen’s Compensation Act
as last amended by chapter one hundred and fifty-nine of the Acts o!
the General Assembly of nineteen hundred and thirty, page four
hundred and seven, 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 Com-
mission 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 application therefor, to any such company upon the said Com-
mission being satisfied of the solvency of such company and its ability
to perform all its undertakings; provided, if it be a foreign corpora-
tion, it has complied with the provisions of section thirty-eight hun-
dred 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 on 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 Commis-
sion 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.

If, 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 opinion that such rates, or any of them, are
unfair, 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
company 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 as 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 proceed-
ings 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
Commission may at any time prescribe, for the purpose of deter-
mining 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 investigations 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 members of the Industrial Commission to sit
with it in an advisory capacity, at any investigation or hearing con-
cerning such rates.

Authority is hereby conferred upon the State Corporation Com-
mission to make such arrangements with the Industrial Commission
as may be agreeable to the Industrial Commission, for collecting,
compiling, preserving 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 Industria
Commission, it may appoint members of the Industrial Commission
or its employees, as special agents of the State Corporation Com.
mission to take testimony and make reports with reference to an}
matter involving questions of workmen’s compensation insurance
rates.

(c) For the purpose of paying the salaries and necessary expense:
of the Industrial Commission and its assistants and employees ir
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
contract 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 pro-
visions 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 business 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, however, that such insurance carriers shall be
credited with all cancelled or returned permiums, actually refunded
during the year on such insurance, and with premiums on re-insurance
assumed.

(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 in-
surance carriers, and may require such additional information as it
deems necessary for the performance of the duties herein conferred
upon said Commission.

Every insurance carrier required to make such return shall file
the same with the Industrial Commission 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 premium ascertained as
provided in subsection (c) hereof, less returned premiums and re-
insurance assumed. Upon receiving such payments the Comptroller
shall place the whole thereof to the credit of the fund for the adminjs-
tration 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 Irom Dusiness
n 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
‘o 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 un-
incorporated associations, 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
remains 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 fraudu-
lent return as herein provided, shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less
than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, or by im-
prisonment for not less than ten nor more than ninety days, or both
such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the jury.

(h) Whenever by this act or the terms of any policy contract,
any officer is 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
of the secretary, general agent, or chief officer thereof in the United

tates.

(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
Commission shall assess against such payroll a maintenance fund tax
computed by taking two and one-half per centum of the basic prem-
iums 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 ac
cordance with an experience rating determined by the records of the
Commission, which tax shall be paid as provided in subsection (d) o!
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
the reports herein required to be made to the Industrial Com-
sion by self-insurers for the purpose of performing the duties
osed upon said Commission under this act. :
(k) If it be ascertained that the tax collected exceeds the total
rgeable against the maintenance fund under the provisions of
-act, the said Commission may authorize a corresponding credit
n the collection for any year or make refunds of taxes collected.
2. An emergency existing, this act shall be effective on passage.