An agency title insuranceproducer licensed under this title shall pay an annual assessment determined by the commission by rule made in accordance with Section 31A-2-404, except that the annual assessment:
Terms Used In Utah Code 31A-41-202
Agency: means :
(a)
a person other than an individual, including a sole proprietorship by which an individual does business under an assumed name; and
Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
Fund: means the Title Insurance Recovery, Education, and Research Fund created in Section 31A-41-201. See Utah Code 31A-41-102
a risk distributing arrangement providing for compensation or replacement for damages or loss through the provision of a service or a benefit in kind;
(ii)
a contract of guaranty or suretyship entered into by the guarantor or surety as a business and not as merely incidental to a business transaction; and
(iii)
a plan in which the risk does not rest upon the person who makes an arrangement, but with a class of persons who have agreed to share the risk. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
License: includes a certificate of authority issued to an insurer. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
Person: includes :
(a)
an individual;
(b)
a partnership;
(c)
a corporation;
(d)
an incorporated or unincorporated association;
(e)
a joint stock company;
(f)
a trust;
(g)
a limited liability company;
(h)
a reciprocal;
(i)
a syndicate; or
(j)
another similar entity or combination of entities acting in concert. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
producer: means a person licensed or required to be licensed under the laws of this state to sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
Title insurance: means the insuring, guaranteeing, or indemnifying of an owner of real or personal property or the holder of liens or encumbrances on that property, or others interested in the property against loss or damage suffered by reason of liens or encumbrances upon, defects in, or the unmarketability of the title to the property, or invalidity or unenforceability of any liens or encumbrances on the property. See Utah Code 31A-1-301
shall be determined on the basis of title insurancepremium volume.
(2)
An individual who applies for a license or renewal of a license as an individual title insurance producer, shall pay in addition to any other fee required by this title, an assessment not to exceed $20, as determined by the commission by rule made in accordance with Section 31A-2-404, except that if the individual holds more than one license, the total of all assessments under this Subsection (2) may not exceed $20 in a fiscal year.
(3)
(a)
To be licensed as an agency title insurance producer, a person shall pay to the department an assessment of $1,000 before the day on which the person is licensed as a title insurance agency.
(b)
(i)
The department shall assess on a licensed agency title insurance producer an amount equal to the greater of:
(A)
$1,000; or
(B)
subject to Subsection (3)(b)(ii), 2% of the balance in the agency title insurance producer’s reserve account described in Subsection 31A-23a-204(3).
(ii)
The department may assess on an agency title insurance producer an amount less than 2% of the balance described in Subsection (3)(b)(i)(B) if:
(A)
before issuing the assessments under this Subsection (3)(b) the department determines that the total of all assessments under Subsection (3)(b)(i) will exceed $250,000;
(B)
the amount assessed on the agency title insurance producer is not less than $1,000; and
(C)
the department reduces the assessment in a proportionate amount for agency title insurance producers assessed on the basis of the 2% of the balance described in Subsection (3)(b)(i)(B).
(iii)
An agency title insurance producer assessed under this Subsection (3)(b) shall pay the assessment by no later than August 1.
(4)
The department may not assess a title insurance licensee an assessment for purposes of the fund if that assessment is not expressly provided for in this section.
