Current Status Introducing Body:Senate Bill Number:927 Ratification Number:533 Act Number:496 Primary Sponsor:Giese Type of Legislation:GB Subject:Motor vehicle insurance, driver training course Companion Bill Number:4369 Date Bill Passed both Bodies:19940601 Computer Document Number:JIC/5180AC.94 Governor's Action:S Date of Governor's Action:19940714 Introduced Date:19940111 Date of Last Amendment:19940601 Last History Body:------ Last History Date:19940714 Last History Type:Act No. 496 Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Giese Passailaigue Glover Hayes Holland Lander Mitchell O'Dell Reese Short Washington Rose Wilson Leventis Rankin J. Verne Smith Type of Legislation:General Bill
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN Leg Involved
---- ------ ------------ ------------------------------ --- ------------
927 ------ 19940714 Act No. 496
927 ------ 19940714 Signed by Governor
927 ------ 19940602 Ratified R 533
927 House 19940601 Ordered enrolled for
ratification
927 Senate 19940601 Receded from its amendments
927 House 19940601 Non-concurrence in Senate
amendment
927 Senate 19940601 House amendments amended,
returned to House
927 House 19940601 Read third time, returned to
Senate with amendment
927 House 19940531 Amended, read second time
927 House 19940526 Debate adjourned until
Tuesday, 19940531
927 House 19940518 Committee Report: Favorable 26
with amendment
927 House 19940421 Introduced, read first time, 26
referred to Committee
927 Senate 19940420 Read third time, sent to House
927 Senate 19940419 Read second time
927 Senate 19940414 Committee Report: Favorable 02
927 Senate 19940111 Introduced, read first time, 02
referred to Committee
927 Senate 19931220 Prefiled, referred to 02
Committee
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.
(A496, R533, S927)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 38-73-737 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT AUTOMOBILE LIABILITY AND COLLISION INSURANCE RATES ARE SUBJECT TO A CREDIT IF AN INSURED HAS PASSED AN APPROVED DRIVER TRAINING COURSE, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE COURSE; AND TO AMEND SECTION 38-77
350, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH NEW OFFERS FOR AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE ARE NOT REQUIRED, SO AS TO PROVIDE THOSE CONDITIONS WHEN A POLICY IS OFFERED OR ISSUED BY A NEW SERVING CARRIER FOR THE SOUTH CAROLINA REINSURANCE FACILITY.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Premium credits for completion of driver training courses
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 38-73-737. (A) Premium rates charged for liability coverages and collision coverage under a private passenger automobile insurance policy are subject to an appropriate driver training course credit once satisfactory evidence is presented that an applicant for the credit, who is not subject to the youthful operator approved driver training course credit mandated by Regulation 69-13.2(C), has completed successfully an approved driver training course. The amount of the credit may be determined by each individual insurer based upon factually or statistically supported data and is subject to prior approval by the commissioner. The credit must be afforded to the operator for thirty-six months from the date the approved driver training course was completed. The insurer may require as a condition of providing and maintaining the credit, that the insured for a three-year period after course completion not be involved in an accident for which the insured is at fault. The credit must be afforded by each insurer in a nondiscriminatory manner to all applicants, other than those considered within Regulation 69-13.2(C).
(B) `An approved driver training course' for purposes of this section is a driver training course which has been approved by the Department of Public Safety and was conducted by:
(1) a recognized college or university;
(2) instructors certified by the Department of Public Safety; or
(3) any other school approved and supervised by the Department of Public Safety.
(C) The requirements of the course, in order to qualify for the insurance credit, must include the following minimum criteria:
(1) eight hours of classroom instruction;
(2) the teaching method must include group discussion, lecture, and visual presentations;
(3) the course materials must include age-related physical changes affecting older drivers, accident prevention measures, and a basic review of the rules-of-the-road including, but not limited to, rights of way, backing, entering, and leaving interstate highways; and
(4) a relevant test on the course material.
(D) For purposes of this section `satisfactory evidence' is a certificate signed by an official of the school or the Department of Public Safety, which certifies that:
(1) the person achieved a passing grade on a relevant test on the course material;
(2) the course was approved by and the instructors were certified by the Department of Public Safety; and
(3) the school was approved and supervised by the Department of Public Safety.
(E) Only the vehicle driven by drivers who have completed successfully the driver training course qualifies for the insurance credit. In order for the credit to apply, the certificate must be furnished by the named insured, principal operator of the insured vehicle, and all occasional operators named in the policy as provided in Department of Insurance Regulation 69-13.1(II)(C). Other vehicles which may be operated by other family members who have not completed the driver training course do not qualify for the insurance credit unless the primary driver of the additional vehicle has successfully completed the driver training course.
(F) Only driver training courses taken on a voluntary basis qualify for the insurance credit. Driver training courses taken as a requirement of a driving offense including, but not limited to, ADSAP or driver training courses taken to reduce the number of traffic violation points against a driver's license, do not qualify for the insurance credit provided in this section."
Conditions under which new offers of insurance are not required
SECTION 2. Section 38-77-350(C) of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 148 of 1989, is amended to read:
"(C) An automobile insurer is not required to make a new offer of coverage on any automobile insurance policy which renews, extends, changes, supersedes, or replaces an existing policy. However, the first renewal notices for existing policies after December 1, 1989, must include the form provided in subsection (A). A policy of automobile insurance offered or issued by a new servicing carrier for the South Carolina Reinsurance Facility to replace a policy previously issued by a former servicing carrier and containing the same coverage limits as the former policy constitutes a valid replacement policy that does not require the new servicing carrier or agent to make a new offer of coverage or to obtain a new application from the insured."
Time effective
SECTION 3. This act takes effect July 1, 1994.
Approved the 14th day of July, 1994.