Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 2 > Chapter 41 - Joint Committee On Taxation

• Accommodation bondsman: means a person who has reached the age of eighteen years, is a resident of this State, who, aside from love and affection and release of the person concerned, receives no consideration for action as surety, and who endorses the bail bond after providing satisfactory evidence of ownership, value, and marketability of real property to the extent necessary to reasonably satisfy the official taking bond that the real or personal property will in all respects be sufficient to assure that the full principal sum of the bond will be realized in the event of breach of the conditions of the bond. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Actuary: means a person who is a member in good standing of the American Academy of Actuaries. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Adjuster: means an individual who determines the extent of insured losses and assists in settling or attempts to settle claims. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• administrator: means any person who collects charges or premiums from, or who adjusts or settles claims on, residents of this State in connection with life or health insurance coverage or annuities other than:
  
  (1) an employer on behalf of its employees or the employees of one or more subsidiaries or affiliated corporations of an employer;
  
  (2) a union on behalf of its members;
  
  (3) an insurer which is either licensed in this State or acting as an insurer with respect to a policy lawfully issued and delivered by it pursuant to the laws of a state in which the insurer was authorized to do insurance business, or a health maintenance organization licensed in this State;
  
  (4) a life or health agent or broker licensed in this State whose activities are limited exclusively to the sale of insurance;
  
  (5) a creditor on behalf of its debtors with respect to insurance covering a debt between the creditor and its debtors;
  
  (6) a trust, its trustees, agents, and employees acting thereunder, established in conformity with 29 U. See South Carolina Code 38-51-10
• Admitted insurer: means an insurer licensed to engage in the business of insurance in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affiliated group: means any group of entities that are all affiliated. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Appointment: means an individual designated by an official or authorized representative of an authorized insurer to act on its behalf as a producer. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Bail bond: means an undertaking by the defendant to appear in court as required upon penalty of forfeiting bail to the State in a stated amount and may include an unsecured appearance bond, a premium-secured appearance bond, an appearance bond secured by a cash deposit of the full amount of the bond, an appearance bond secured by a mortgage, and an appearance bond secured by at least one surety. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Bail bondsman: means a surety bondsman, professional bondsman, or an accommodation bondsman as defined in this chapter. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Casualty insurance: means each insurance against legal liability of the insured for bodily injury to or death of another person, including workers' compensation insurance, and for damages to or loss or destruction of the property of another person; medical payments insurance when written in conjunction with insurance covering liability for the deaths or bodily injuries of another person; guaranteeing the fidelity of a person holding a position of public or private trust; loss of or damage to property caused by burglary, theft, larceny, robbery, fraud, or unlawful taking or secretion of property owned by or entrusted to the insured; loss of or damage to property of the insured resulting from the explosion of or damage to a fired or unfired boiler or other pressure vessel, engine, turbine, compressor, pump, wheel, or an apparatus generating, transmitting, or using electric power, and machinery or equipment connected with any of them; loss resulting from nonpayment of debts owed to merchants or another person extending credit. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commission: means the part of the premium paid to the producer as compensation for his services. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Control: means :
  
  (a) the entity directly or indirectly or acting through one or more other persons owns, controls, or has the power to vote twenty-five percent or more of any class of voting securities of the other entity; or
  
  (b) the entity controls in any manner the election of a majority of the directors or trustees of the other entity. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Controlling person: means a person, a firm, an association, or a corporation who directly or indirectly has power to direct or cause to be directed the management, control, or activities of the reinsurance intermediary. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Insurance of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Director: means the person who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the Senate and who is responsible for the operation and management of the department. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic monitoring: means monitoring a person by the use of a device which records or transmits oral or wire communications or an auditory sound, visual images, or information regarding the person's activities. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Eligible surplus lines insurer: means a nonadmitted insurer with which a licensed broker, or a licensed producer as provided in § 38-45-10(8)(b)(ii), may place surplus lines insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Exempt commercial purchaser: means any person purchasing commercial insurance that, at the time of placement, meets the following requirements:
  
  (a) the person employs or retains a qualified risk manager to negotiate insurance coverage;
  
  (b) the person has paid aggregate nationwide commercial property and casualty insurance premiums in excess of one hundred thousand dollars in the immediately preceding twelve months; and
  
  (c)(i) the person meets at least one of the following criteria:
  
  (A) the person possesses a net worth in excess of twenty million dollars, as that amount is adjusted pursuant to subsubitem (ii);
  
  (B) the person generates annual revenues in excess of fifty million dollars, as that amount is adjusted pursuant to subsubitem (ii);
  
  (C) the person employs more than five hundred full-time or full-time equivalent employees per individual insured or is a member of an affiliated group employing more than one thousand employees in the aggregate;
  
  (D) the person is a not-for-profit organization or public entity generating annual budgeted expenditures of at least thirty million dollars as that amount is adjusted pursuant to subsubitem (ii); or
  
  (E) the person is a municipality with a population in excess of fifty thousand persons. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreign insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States other than this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Good cause: means the violation of a specific term of the bail bond not to include the nonpayment of fees. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• home state: means the home state, as determined pursuant to subitem (a), of the member of the affiliated group that has the largest percentage of premium attributed to it under the insurance contract. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Independently procured insurance: means insurance procured directly by an insured from a surplus lines insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurance broker: means a property and casualty insurance producer licensed by the director or his designee who:
  
  (i) sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of an insured;
  
  (ii) takes or transmits other than for himself an application for insurance or a policy of insurance to or from an insured;
  
  (iii) advertises or otherwise gives notice that he receives or transmits a surplus lines application or policy;
  
  (iv) receives or delivers a policy of surplus lines insurance for an insured on behalf of a surplus lines insurer;
  
  (v) receives, collects, or transmits a premium of surplus lines insurance; or
  
  (vi) performs another act in the making of a surplus lines insurance contract for or with an insured. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Insurance company: means an "insurer". See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Insurer: means a corporation, a fraternal organization, a burial association, another association, a partnership, a society, an order, an individual, or an aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Insurer: means any domestic, foreign, or alien surety company which has qualified generally to transact surety business and specifically to transact bail bond business in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Judgement: The official decision of a court finally determining the respective rights and claims of the parties to a suit.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• License: means a document issued by the state's director or his designee authorizing a person to act as an insurance producer for the lines of authority specified in the document. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Licensed producer: means an agent, broker, or reinsurance intermediary licensed pursuant to the applicable provision of the insurance law. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• motor vehicle physical damage appraiser: means a person, partnership, association, or corporation which practices as a business the appraising of damages to motor vehicles insured under automobile physical damage policies or on behalf of third party claimants. See South Carolina Code 38-49-10
• Municipal agent: means the Municipal Association of South Carolina or other designated agent of the municipality for the purpose set forth in this chapter. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Negotiate: means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance concerning substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of the contract, provided that the person engaged in that act either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Nonadmitted insurer: means an insurer not licensed to do an insurance business in this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Person: means a corporation, agency, partnership, association, voluntary organization, individual, or another entity, organization, or aggregation of individuals. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Premium: means payment given in consideration of a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Premium tax: means , with respect to surplus lines or independently procured insurance coverage, any tax, fee, assessment, or other charge imposed by a governmental entity directly or indirectly based on any payment made as consideration for an insurance contract, including premium deposits, assessments, registration fees, and any other compensation given in consideration for a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Principal: means a defendant or witness obligated to appear in court as required upon penalty of forfeiting bail under a bail bond. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• producer: means a person who represents an insurance company and is required to be licensed pursuant to § 38-43-10. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Professional bondsman: means any person who is approved and licensed under the provisions of this chapter and who pledges cash or approved securities with the clerk of court as security for bail bonds written in connection with a judicial proceeding and receives or is promised money or other things of value for the pledge. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Property insurance: means each insurance against direct or indirect loss of or damage to a property resulting from fire, smoke, weather disturbances, climatic conditions, earthquake, volcanic eruption, rising waters, insects, blight, animals, war damage, riot, civil commotion, destruction by order of civil authority to prevent spread of conflagration or for other reason, water damage, vandalism, glass breakage, explosion of a water system, collision, theft of automobiles, and personal effects in them (but no other forms of theft insurance), loss of or damage to domestic or wild animals, and any other perils to property which in the discretion of the director or his designee form proper subjects of property insurance, if not specified in items (1), (7), (11), (35), (40), (54), or (59) of this section. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Proxy voting: The practice of allowing a legislator to cast a vote in committee for an absent legislator.
• Public adjusting: means investigating, appraising or evaluating, and reporting to an insured in relation to a first party claim arising under insurance contracts, that insure the real or personal property, or both, of the insured. See South Carolina Code 38-48-10
• Public insurance adjuster: means any individual who, for salary, fee, commission, or other compensation, engages in public adjusting and who is licensed under § 38-48-20. See South Carolina Code 38-48-10
• Qualified risk manager: means , with respect to a policyholder of commercial insurance, a person who meets all of the following requirements:
  
  (a) the person is an employee of, or third-party consultant retained by, the commercial policyholder;
  
  (b) the person provides skilled services in loss prevention, loss reduction, or risk and insurance coverage analysis, and purchase of insurance; and
  
  (c)(i)(A) the person has a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university in risk management, business administration, finance, economics, or any other field determined by the director or other state regulatory official or entity to demonstrate minimum competence in risk management; and
  
  (B) has three years of experience in risk financing, claims administration, loss prevention, risk and insurance analysis, or purchasing commercial lines of insurance; or
  
  (aa) has a designation as a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) issued by the American Institute for CPCU/Insurance Institute of America;
  
  (bb) has a designation as an Associate in Risk Management (ARM) issued by the American Institute for CPCU/Insurance Institute of America;
  
  (cc) has a designation as Certified Risk Manager (CRM) issued by the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research;
  
  (dd) has a designation as a RIMS Fellow (RF) issued by the Global Risk Management Institute; or
  
  (ee) any other designation, certification, or license determined by the director or other state insurance regulatory official or entity to demonstrate minimum competency in risk management;
  
  (ii)(A) has at least seven years of experience in risk financing, claims administration, loss prevention, risk and insurance coverage analysis, or purchasing commercial lines of insurance; and
  
  (B) has any one of the designations specified in subitems (c)(i)(B)(aa) through (c)(i)(B)(ee);
  
  (iii) has at least ten years of experience in risk financing, claims administration, loss prevention, risk and insurance coverage analysis, or purchasing commercial lines of insurance; or
  
  (iv) has a graduate degree from an accredited college or university in risk management, business administration, finance, economics, or any other field determined by the director or other state regulatory official or entity to demonstrate minimum competence in risk management. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Reinsurance intermediary: means a reinsurance intermediary-broker or a reinsurance intermediary-manager defined in this section. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Reinsurance intermediary-broker: means a person, other than an officer or employee of the ceding insurer, who solicits, negotiates, or places reinsurance cessions or retrocessions on behalf of a ceding insurer without the authority or power to bind reinsurance on behalf of the insurer. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Reinsurance intermediary-manager: means a person who has authority to bind or manage all or part of the assumed reinsurance business of a reinsurer, including the management of a separate division, department, or underwriting office, and acts as an agent for the reinsurer whether known as a reinsurance intermediary-manager or other similar term. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Reinsurer: means a person, a firm, an association, or a corporation licensed in this State pursuant to the applicable provisions of the insurance law as an insurer with the authority to assume reinsurance. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Runner: means a person employed by a bail bondsman for the purpose of assisting the bail bondsman in presenting the defendant in court when required, assisting in the apprehension and surrender of the defendant to the court, keeping the defendant under necessary surveillance, and executing bonds on behalf of the licensed bondsman when the power of attorney has been recorded. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Sell: means to exchange a contract of insurance by any means, for money or its equivalent, on behalf of an insurance company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Solicit: means attempting to sell insurance or asking or urging a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• State: includes any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Surety: includes insurance or a bond that covers obligations to pay the debts, or answer for the default, of another, including faithlessness in a position of public or private trust. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• Surety: means one who, with the defendant, is liable for the amount of the bail bond upon forfeiture of bail. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Surety bondsman: means any person who is approved by and licensed by the director or his designee as an insurance agent, appointed by an insurer by power of attorney to execute or countersign bail bonds for the insurer in connection with judicial proceedings, and receives or is promised money or other things of value for the execution or countersignature. See South Carolina Code 38-53-10
• Surplus lines insurance: means any property and casualty insurance permitted to be placed directly or through a surplus lines broker, or an insurance producer as provided in subitem (b)(ii), with a surplus lines insurer eligible to accept the insurance as defined in § 38-1-20(56). See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Surplus lines insurer: means an insurer not licensed to engage in the business of insurance in this State, but does not include a risk retention group, as that term is defined in Section 2(a)(4) of the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986 (15 U. See South Carolina Code 38-45-10
• Terminate: means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer or the termination of a producer's authority to transact insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
• To be in violation: means that the reinsurance intermediary, insurer, or reinsurer for whom the reinsurance intermediary was acting failed to comply substantially with this chapter. See South Carolina Code 38-46-20
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.