(a) The Seismic Safety Account is hereby created as a special account within the Insurance Fund. Money in the account may be appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of this section to fund the department and the Seismic Safety Commission. Assessments imposed on insurers as a prorated percentage of premiums earned on property exposures for both commercial and residential insurance policies relative to the aggregate premiums earned on those exposures by all insurers shall be deposited in the account. The premiums earned for property exposures shall be as stated on lines 4 and 5.1 of the annual statement filed by each insurer pursuant to Section 900. The assessments shall be set annually based on earned premiums reported for the next preceding year by the department and calculated so that the funds in the account shall be sufficient to fund appropriations for support of the Seismic Safety Commission, for the actual collection and administrative costs of the department, and for the maintenance of an adequate reserve. The department shall submit the proposed assessments to the Seismic Safety Commission for its review at a regularly scheduled meeting of the commission.
(b) No assessment shall be levied on insurers with less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) of annual direct premiums earned on property exposures for both commercial and residential insurance policies. The department may adjust this amount as necessary to minimize costs by excluding assessment amounts that are too small to justify the cost of assessment and collection or if assessment or collection is impractical.
(c) An insurer, in its discretion, may recover this assessment in an equitable fashion from the insured. The insurer, upon receipt of an invoice, shall transmit payment to the department for deposit in the Seismic Safety Account. Any deficiency or excess in the amount collected in relation to the appropriation authority for the commission and the department shall be accounted for in the subsequent annual fee calculation. Any balance remaining in the Seismic Safety Account at the end of the fiscal year shall be retained in the account and carried forward to the next fiscal year.
(d) Funds in the Seismic Safety Account shall be distributed, upon appropriation, to the Seismic Safety Commission for the support of the commission and to the department for the actual administrative costs incurred in collecting the assessments.
(e) The department shall report annually to the Legislature, the Seismic Safety Commission, and the Department of Finance on the assessment calculation methodology employed.
(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2012, and, as of January 1, 2013, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.