Bill Text: CA AB844 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Zero-emission trucks: insurance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-10-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 347, Statutes of 2023. [AB844 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB844-Chaptered.html
Assembly Bill
No. 844
CHAPTER 347
An act to add Article 10.9 (commencing with Section 938) to Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance.
[
Approved by
Governor
October 07, 2023.
Filed with
Secretary of State
October 07, 2023.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 844, Gipson.
Zero-emission trucks: insurance.
Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program, administered by the State Air Resources Board, for the purposes of funding projects related to, among other things, the reduction of criteria air pollutants and improvement of air quality. As part of the funding plan for the Air Quality Improvement Program, existing law requires the state board to include a 3-year investment strategy for zero- and near-zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles and equipment commensurate with meeting state greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
Existing law provides for the regulation of insurance by the Department of Insurance, which is under the control of the Insurance Commissioner.
This bill would require the department to implement specific data collections on the availability and affordability of insurance
for heavy-duty trucks and truck fleets. The bill would require the department to issue a bulletin on or before February 1, 2024, to initiate the first data collection, and would require admitted insurers to respond on or before May 1, 2024. The bill would require the surveys and data calls to include specified information, including, among other things, whether an insurance company offers insurance for zero-emission truck options. The bill would require the information to be submitted to the commissioner and to be confidential, as specified. The bill would require the commissioner to publish the information in the aggregate, and would prohibit the identification of an individual respondent or insurer, except as specified. The bill would require the commissioner to establish and maintain a link on the department’s internet website that provides public access to this
aggregate information.
This bill would require the department, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to create a consumer-focused online insurance information resource tool for the public to use to readily find information and insurance options for battery-powered, hydrogen-powered, or other zero-emission advanced truck technology to provide a “one-stop” for the public. The bill would also require the department, in consultation with the state board, to create a strategy, on or before January 1, 2025, to address insurance gaps for new heavy-duty truck technologies, as specified.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that
interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:(a) Reducing emissions from mobile pollution sources, including heavy-duty trucks, saves lives and provides health benefits by reducing the formation of ozone, greenhouse gas emissions, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and toxic diesel particulate matter (PM). These emissions cause health impacts that disproportionately harm vulnerable and disadvantaged communities near freeways that serve as major transit routes for large, heavy-duty trucks.
(b) Deployment of increasing numbers of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks is an essential part of the
state’s strategy to meet specific emissions reductions targets for both criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases, including 2030 targets for reducing emissions of the super pollutant black carbon, which is a pollutant that is commonly released by diesel–powered trucks.
(c) The state continues to develop rules and incentives to achieve 100% zero emission truck fleets. In 2020, the State Air Resources Board approved the Advanced Clean Trucks regulation (Sections 1963 to 1963.5, inclusive, and Sections 2012 to 2012.2, inclusive, of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations), ensuring that truck manufacturers produce and sell zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks as an increasing portion of their sales from 2024 to 2035. The regulation is anticipated to result in 100,000 zero-emission trucks by 2030 and 300,000 by 2035. In 2021, the State
Air Resources Board initiated an Advanced Clean Fleet regulatory process that includes provisions to require all drayage trucks entering seaports and intermodal railyards to be zero
emission by 2035, and would end the sale of combustion-powered trucks in California by 2040. Furthermore, in the past five years, the state has appropriated over $1,000,000,000 in incentives, through programs administered by the State Air Resources Board, to incentivize zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
(d) New technologies, without long histories of actuarial information, can face challenges finding insurance. Fleets adopting zero-emission technologies may be facing a limited market for insurance, which could slow deployment of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks.
(e) A robust data source can strengthen insurance markets by providing both consumers and insurers aggregated loss information to increase understanding of this emerging insurance market, identify
potential barriers for expanding insurance options, and provide both the insurance regulator and air quality regulator with critical information to inform policy alternatives.
SEC. 2.
Article 10.9 (commencing with Section 938) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code, to read:Article 10.9. Zero-Emission Heavy-Duty Truck Data Reporting
938.
(a) The Department of Insurance shall implement specific data collections on the availability and affordability of insurance for heavy-duty trucks and truck fleets that utilize advanced fuels and related technologies to better understand emerging markets important to the State of California’s climate change goals, expand insurance options by establishing more robust data for consumers and insurers, and identify potential barriers to zero-emission technologies in the transportation sector. The focus of the data collections shall be zero-emission technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality when compared with conventional or fully commercialized alternatives, including those defined by the State Air Resources Board.(b) The department shall issue a bulletin on or before February 1, 2024, to initiate the first data collection. Admitted insurers shall respond on or before May 1, 2024. Data collections shall include surveys and data calls from insurance companies licensed to write insurance through the admitted market. The surveys and data calls shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following information:
(1) Whether an insurance company offers insurance for zero-emission truck options.
(2) Loss experience information per claim over a specified time period, such as annually, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Type of
loss, which may include both liability and physical damage type losses.
(B) Type of medium- and heavy-duty truck.
(C) Date of loss.
(D) Amount of losses incurred and paid in United States dollars.
(3) The number of vehicles covered under insurance policies,
(4) Policy level experience, including, but not limited to, premium per type of medium- and heavy-duty truck insured, the time the truck is insured from effective start date to end date of coverage, and type of coverage, which may include both liability and physical damage type coverage.
(5) Minimum, maximum, and average overall coverage limit of the policy, and per type of medium- and heavy-duty truck within a truck fleet.
(c) The information required by this section shall be submitted to the commissioner. The commissioner may specify, by bulletin, the manner of submission and format of the reporting required pursuant to subdivision (a).
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), the commissioner shall
publish
information compiled from the data submitted pursuant to this section in the aggregate and shall not identify an individual respondent or insurer, except to support consumer understanding of insurance options as specified in subdivision (a) of Section 938.1. The commissioner shall establish and maintain a link on the department’s internet website that provides public access to the aggregate information required to be disclosed pursuant to this subdivision.
(e) Information submitted to the commissioner, as required by this section, shall be confidential pursuant to Section 7929.000 of the Government Code and exempt from the California Public Records Act
(Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code). Additionally, that information shall not be subject to subpoena or subpoena duces tecum. Testimony by the commissioner, the commissioner’s staff, an employee of the department, or a person to whom the reporting required by this section was disclosed, regarding the contents of any report submitted pursuant to this section, shall be inadmissible as evidence in a civil proceeding.
938.1.
(a) The Department of Insurance, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, shall create a consumer-focused online insurance information resource tool, based on data collected pursuant to Section 938, for the public to use to readily find information and insurance options for battery-powered, hydrogen-powered, or other zero-emission advanced truck technology, including which insurance companies offer insurance for trucks or fleets using different zero-emission technologies and any relevant coverage limits or fleet size specifications, to provide a “one-stop” for the public.(b) The Department of Insurance, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, shall provide an assessment of all of the following:
(1) The availability and affordability of insurance for existing and emerging advanced fleet technologies being deployed for heavy-duty vehicles.
(2) The role of insurance markets in meeting the goals of Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 39710) of Part 2 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code and the greenhouse gas reduction and short-lived climate pollutant emissions reduction goals
of the state.
(c) On or before January 1, 2025, the Department of Insurance, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, shall create a strategy to address current and future insurance gaps for new heavy-duty truck technologies, including consideration for establishing a risk pool and other tools to offer insurance to truck fleet businesses and individual truck owners who are unable to find insurance in the private insurance markets. This strategy shall include an evaluation of all of the following:
(1) The number of companies offering insurance for zero-emission truck fleets, or individual zero-emission trucks, in the current market.
(2) The impact of existing electric and hydrogen truck insurance policies
on emissions reductions from the heavy-duty truck sector.
(3) Availability of actuarial loss data for electric and hydrogen trucks, or fleets of those trucks.
(4) Coverage limits most appropriate for zero-emission truck fleets, based on the common size and characteristics of zero-emission trucking fleets.
(5) Additional insurance related information, including information collected pursuant to Section 938.
(6) Important timelines and specific checkpoints for monitoring insurance accessibility in advance of major regulatory deadlines for transitioning medium- and heavy-duty fleets to
zero-emission technologies, and state goals for increasing the percentage of zero-emission trucks and buses in the state.
(d) The State Air Resources Board shall provide information necessary to support the Department of Insurance in the development of the evaluation described in subdivision (c), including, but not limited to, the information required by paragraphs (2) and (6) of subdivision (c).
SEC. 3.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this act, which adds Article 10.9 (commencing with Section 938) to Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Insurance Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:In order to protect proprietary insurer information, it is necessary for information
reported to the Insurance Commissioner by insurers pursuant to Section 3 of this act to remain confidential.
