SENATE, No. 573

SECTION 1. Chapter 223 of the acts of 1985, as most recently amended by chapter 166 of the acts of  2004, is hereby further amended by  providing that the provisions of chapter 223 of the Acts of 1985, sections 1 through 13, providing for the creation and administration of the Liquor Liability Joint Underwriting Association of Massachusetts, shall terminate upon the conversion of the Liquor Liability Joint Underwriting Association of Massachusetts  into the Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company.

SECTION 2.   The Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company.

Definitions

Section 1.         As used in this act the following words shall have the following meanings:

“Association,” the Liquor Liability Joint Underwriting Association established pursuant to chapter two hundred and twenty-three of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty -five.

“Liquor liability insurance,” insurance coverage against the legal liability of the insured for loss, damage or expense incident to a claim arising out of the death or injury or damage to the property of any person as the result of negligence in the service of alcoholic beverages.

Section 2.         The commissioner of insurance is hereby authorized and directed to approve the conversion of the Association and the Association is hereby converted into a mutual insurance company to be known as the Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company, which shall succeed to and assume all of the assets and liabilities of the Association.  All rights, interests and properties of the Association shall, without any further act or deed, be the property of the resulting mutual company, and the resulting mutual company shall remain bound by all obligations and liabilities of the Association including, without limitation, the rights and obligations of the Association under the policies of insurance issued by it.  No contracts, claims, suits or other rights of or against the association shall be affected by this conversion.

Section 3.         The Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company shall be authorized to transact any and all kinds of liquor liability insurance and other lines of insurance for which it may be licensed, as the commissioner may approve subject to the restrictions of section forty-eight A of chapter one hundred seventy-five of the General Laws; except as provided herein, or in its articles of organization or by-laws, such mutual company shall have all powers conferred upon a mutual insurance company incorporated in the commonwealth.  Except as provided herein, such company shall be subject to all provisions of the General Laws which are now or may in the future be applicable to such companies; and provided further that nothing in this act shall diminish the regulatory authority of the commissioner of insurance as set forth in chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety-three with respect to such company.

Section 4.         The Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company shall be governed by a board of directors which shall, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, be constituted and selected in the manner set forth in the company’s by-laws.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the officers of the company shall be authorized on behalf of the board to solicit proxies from the members and to vote such proxies without limitation as to number of votes so cast.

Section 5.         The Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company shall be subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred seventy-five A of the General Laws to the extent that those provisions otherwise apply to a mutual insurance company incorporated in the commonwealth, and shall be authorized to issue non-assessable policies.

Section 6.         The Liquor Liability Mutual Insurance Company shall make available all liquor liability insurance coverage that it offers generally to applicants in Massachusetts . The liquor liability coverage will be available to Massachusetts liquor licensees and all of those applicants for liquor liability insurance who serve alcoholic beverages as an incident of their business but for which a license is not required.