Bill 90 explained in plain English
Lower Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2019
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Lower Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2019, amends the Insurance Act to establish new requirements for approving automobile insurance rates, including limits on insurers' return on equity and operating costs, and mandates increased reporting by insurers.
This bill, the Lower Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2019, amends the Insurance Act. It introduces new rules for approving automobile insurance rates. Insurers must provide more information to the Superintendent about their equity, return on equity, and operating costs. The Superintendent must refuse to approve a rate if an insurer's return on equity is too high or if their operating costs exceed a certain percentage of premiums collected. These percentages are set to decrease over time. The bill also requires insurers to report annually on premiums paid, claims made, and claims paid, broken down by postal code. Finally, it changes the term "Superintendent" to "Chief Executive Officer" in the relevant sections.
- Amends the Insurance Act.
- Introduces new sections (415.1 and 415.2) to the Insurance Act concerning the approval of automobile insurance rates.
- Requires insurers to provide specific financial and operational information to the Superintendent when seeking rate approval.
- Sets limits on an insurer's return on equity and operating costs as a percentage of premiums collected for rate approval purposes.
- Establishes a schedule for decreasing the maximum allowable percentage for operating costs over several years.
- Allows the Superintendent to approve rates even if operating costs exceed the set percentage under certain circumstances.
- Mandates that insurers provide annual statistical information on premiums, claims made, and claims paid, categorized by the first three characters of postal codes where insured individuals reside.
- Replaces the term "Superintendent" with "Chief Executive Officer" in the relevant sections of the Insurance Act.
- Specifies when different parts of the Act come into force.
- Automobile insurance companies (insurers) operating in Ontario.
- The Superintendent (or Chief Executive Officer) of the regulatory body overseeing insurance.
- Individuals who purchase automobile insurance in Ontario.
- Insurers are obligated to provide specific financial and operational data to the Superintendent for rate approval.
- Insurers have the right to have their rates approved if they meet the established criteria.
- Insurers are obligated to report annual premium, claims, and payout data based on postal codes.
- The Superintendent has the power to refuse rate approval if certain financial thresholds are not met.
- The Superintendent has the discretion to approve rates even if operating costs exceed limits under specific circumstances.
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent, except for subsection 1(2) which comes into force on a day named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
- The bill sets specific percentage limits for an insurer's return on equity and operating costs, which could affect profitability.
- Return on equity limits are set at 7% for 2019-2021, and a prescribed amount thereafter, adjusted for market conditions.
- Operating cost limits are set to decrease annually from 20% in 2019 to 17.5% in 2024 and subsequent years.
- The bill does not specify what happens if an insurer fails to provide the required information or comply with the new rate approval conditions.
- The specific 'prescribed amount' for the return on equity after 2021, and the method for adjusting it, are not detailed in the bill and would be determined later.
- The conditions under which observing the established operating cost percentage would be considered 'unreasonable or unjust' are not explicitly defined, leaving discretion to the Superintendent.
This bill amends Part XV of the Insurance Act by adding new sections related to the approval of automobile insurance rates and the information insurers must provide.
Source: Section 1 (1)
This bill adds new sections 415.1 and 415.2 to Part XV of the Insurance Act, which deals with rates and rating bureaus for automobile insurance.
Source: Section 1 (1)
This bill changes the title used for the regulatory authority from "Superintendent" to "Chief Executive Officer" in sections 415.1 and 415.2.
Source: Section 1 (2)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.
No published representative vote breakdown
The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced