California Model Legislation

California Insurance Transparency and Coverage Search Act — Version 0.1

Section 1 — Purpose

Promote informed settlement, reduce unnecessary litigation, permit timely evaluation of UM/UIM, preserve claimant autonomy, and provide an auditable method to determine whether liability insurance may respond to a motor-vehicle claim.

Section 2 — Qualifying request

A claimant or authorized representative may make a written request identifying the crash, claimant, known driver/vehicle, and a reasonable basis for a pending or prospective bodily-injury or property-damage claim.

Section 3 — Core Coverage Record

Within 15 calendar days, each known potentially responsive insurer should provide carrier identity, named insured/relevant insured relationship, policy type, effective dates, liability limits, umbrella/excess status, coverage position status, and policy/form identifiers. Premium and payment information are excluded.

Section 4 — Complete responsive policy

Within 30 calendar days, produce the complete responsive policy package, including declarations, policy jacket, amendatory forms, endorsements, and any schedule needed to interpret the coverage. Unrelated personal data may be redacted.

Section 5 — Reasonable coverage search

An insurer responding to a qualifying request must make a reasonable search of systems and policy lines reasonably associated with the insured identity and claim. The response should state what policy lines were checked and whether additional responsive coverage was found, without requiring disclosure of privileged legal advice or proprietary underwriting algorithms.

Section 6 — Driver, owner, and employer branches

If the request presents a reasonable factual basis for owner coverage, permissive use, or work use, the relevant owner/employer must identify known insurers and brokers for potentially responsive auto, commercial auto, hired/non-owned auto, and umbrella/excess coverage.

Section 7 — UM/UIM transmission

At the claimant's direction, the finalized Coverage Search Record may be transmitted directly to the claimant's UM/UIM insurer. The liability carrier and UM/UIM carrier may communicate regarding policy identity and limits without requiring the claimant to act as courier, while preserving the claimant's rights and access to the record.

Section 8 — Certification

The responding insurer or entity certifies that the disclosure is complete based on a reasonable inquiry as of the date signed. A certification is not a concession of liability or coverage where a dispute is expressly identified.

Section 9 — Privacy

Premiums, payment methods, banking data, SSNs, credit data, unrelated household information, and unrelated policy details are not part of the required disclosure. Reasonable redaction is authorized. Core coverage facts may be used for claim evaluation, professional advice, UM/UIM presentation, and judicial enforcement.

Section 10 — Enforcement

Provide a short cure period after written notice of deficiency, then proportionate statutory damages and reasonable fees for material noncompliance. The remedy should distinguish inadvertent clerical error from knowing refusal or materially false certification.

Why this is narrower than ordinary discovery

The act would not authorize interrogatories about fault, medical history, social media, employment performance, or general wealth. It would answer one threshold question: what insurance architecture may satisfy the claim?

Legislative drafting questions for the next version

• Whether the act should apply to all motor-vehicle bodily-injury claims or use a serious-injury threshold.
• Whether the 15-day core record and 30-day full-policy schedule should vary by carrier type.
• How to integrate California's existing insurer claims-regulation framework and unfair-claims statutes.
• Whether employer disclosure should be limited to a verified work-use factual predicate.
• How sanctions should interact with discovery remedies if an action is later filed.