Surety Bond News

HB 562, introduced on 05/19/2008, is a new law involving university treasurers. The new Ohio state law authorizes the treasurer of the Board of Trustees for multiple universities to be insured in lieu of acquiring a surety bond. HB 562 requires the attained bond to be an amount no less than the anticipated amount of funds that may be in a treasurer’s control at any time. At the end of the day, the Board of Trustees decides the amount required for the bond. When it comes to insurance policies, the new law requires the policy to be in the same amount of the bond, but it will also allow for a decrease of the required amount by the quantity of the deductible. The universities included are Bowling Green State, Central State, Cleveland State, Wright State, Youngstown State, and the universities of Akron, Cincinnati, and Toledo. The Governor’s line item veto emerged, have an affect on HB 562.

In the state of Ohio, there is a new law concerning short term lenders. HB 545, enacted on 06/02/2008, controls short-term lenders while requiring licensure and a surety bond from a state licensed surety or bonding company. The surety bond must be at least $100,000 unless the license applicant is a non-profit corporation, in which case the bond requirement is reduced to $50,000. The term of the bond runs along with the license period. HB 545 became operational 3 months after it was filed with the Secretary of State.

Viatical settlement providers and brokers must abide by a new law in the state of Ohio. The new law, titled HB 404, states that viatical settlement brokers and providers must provide a bond from an insurer licensed in the state in the quantity of $250,000. There are other options besides the surety bond that will meet the requirement such as a deposit of cash, a certificate of deposit, or securities. The bond allows the Superintendent of Insurance to make recovery for any individual in the state who suffered damages resulting from an erroneous act, failure to act or conviction of fraud that were caused by a licensed viatical settlement provider/broker. HB 404 is based on new model legislation from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.