As a further aid to uniform administration of rate regulatory laws of this state, the commissioner may prescribe by reasonable rules and regulations:

(a) For the annual reporting of financial data relating to the aggregate economic performance of all title insurance entities conducting the business of title insurance in this state. That data, if required, shall be for the purpose of determining the industry financial experience for the reporting year and shall reflect the after-tax rate of return on total capital, including investment income and realized and unrealized capital gains, from whatever source attributable to operations in this state.

(b) A statistical plan, reasonably adapted to each of the rating systems in use within the state. Any plan may be modified from time to time by the commissioner and shall be used thereafter by each title insurer in the reporting of data required by the plan, so that the experience of all title insurers is available to the commissioner on an annual basis. The commissioner, through regulations, shall prescribe the form and detail of the financial data to be submitted and the time period the data shall cover. In promulgating the plan, the commissioner may give due consideration to the rating systems in use and, in order that the plan may be as uniform as is practicable among the several states, to the rules and to the form of the plan used for these rating systems in other states. Every licensed title insurer in the state shall be required to record and report data directly to the commissioner. The commissioner shall designate one or more advisory organizations to assist in the development of the statistical plan and to further assist in gathering data and making compilations thereof, and these compilations shall be made available, subject to reasonable rules adopted by the commissioner, to title insurers and advisory organizations.

(c) No statistical plan or modifications thereto, or rules or regulations pertaining thereto, shall be adopted or implemented absent compliance with the provisions of Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, except that any plan, rule, or regulation shall not become effective for a period of 120 days following its adoption, and any plan, rule, or regulation shall be deemed to be a regulation required to be filed with the Secretary of State for purposes of Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(d) Data gathered under the statistical plan may be used in conjunction with analytical input from an industry advisory organization to generate statistical information for use in reviewing and evaluating individual rate filings by title insurers pursuant to the standards set forth in Section 12401.3. However, no statistical plan or modifications thereto, or rules or regulations pertaining thereto, shall do any of the following:

(1) Serve as the basis for an assessment not otherwise authorized by law.

(2) Conflict with the purpose and express intent of Section 12401.

(3) Fix, determine, or in any way impair competitive rating or the free market.

(e) This section shall not require a title insurer to refile an existing rate. However, this section shall apply to the filing of a changed or otherwise modified rate, pursuant to the regulations adopted to implement this chapter.

(Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 919, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1999.)