AB 373

This bill authorizes any insurer that provides property or casualty insurance

to provide notices and documents to an insurance applicant, an insured, or a

policyholder (consumer) by electronic means, and provides that doing so, in

compliance with the requirements under the bill, is equivalent to any other method

of delivering notices and documents required under applicable law.

Such an insurer may provide notices and documents electronically if the

consumer has consented to delivery in that manner and has not withdrawn the

consent. The consumer must give consent electronically in a manner that reasonably

demonstrates that the consumer will be able to receive the notices and documents

electronically. If a consumer gives consent for electronic delivery, the consent applies

to any notice or document that the insurer elects to deliver electronically. The

consumer may, however, receive a paper copy of a notice or document that has been

sent electronically, upon request and for a fee, if any, if the insurer offers this option.

Before the consumer gives consent for electronic delivery, the insurer must provide

the consumer with a clear and conspicuous statement that contains a number of

pieces of information, including that the consent applies to any notices and

documents that may be delivered electronically; that the consumer may receive

notices and documents in paper form instead; how to request a paper copy, if the

insurer offers that option, of a notice or document that has been delivered

electronically; and that the consumer may withdraw the consent and the method for

doing so.

The bill contains various related provisions, such as that an oral

communication between a consumer and an insurer may qualify as a notice or

document delivered electronically if the communication can be reliably stored and

reproduced by the insurer; that withdrawal of consent is effective 30 days after the

insurer receives the withdrawal; that the withdrawal of consent does not affect the

legality, validity, or enforceability of a notice or document delivered electronically

before the withdrawal becomes effective; that the legality, validity, or enforceability

of a notice or document delivered electronically may not be denied solely because the

consent was not given electronically; and that notices and documents delivered

electronically must meet the requirements of the provisions of the statutes that

codify the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

The bill also authorizes an insurer that provides property or casualty insurance

to post on the insurer's Internet site any standard policy and endorsements to the

policy that do not contain personally identifiable information. A number of

requirements apply if the insurer elects to post such documents, including: 1) the

documents must remain accessible on the Internet site for as long as they are in

effect; 2) the insurer must make the documents available upon request for at least

five years after the policy terminates; 3) the documents must be posted in such a

manner that they can be printed and saved by using programs or applications that