- (a) The purpose of this part is to increase the five-dollar per-contract fee charged on the sale of each prepaid funeral benefits contract to ten dollars ($10.00) per contract.
- (b) Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 23-40-119(d)(2)(A)(i), the Insurance Commissioner may by rule eliminate, reduce, suspend, or increase the per-contract fee or the portion of the per-contract fee allotted to the Prepaid Funeral Contracts Recovery Program Fund.
- (c) The per-contract fees fund the Prepaid Funeral Contracts Recovery Program, established under Arkansas Code § 23-40-119(d), to provide reparations to consumers in the event a prepaid funeral organization becomes insolvent or has significant trust fund shortages.
- (d) The commissioner has chosen to increase the per-contract fee an additional five dollars ($5.00) to increase the reserves of the fund to adequately safeguard against future, significant trust fund shortages or insolvencies by prepaid funeral benefit organizations.
- (e) The commissioner desires to impose a ten-dollar fee for five (5) years from the effective date of this part to meet current and anticipated requests for potential reparation claims for purchasers from organizations declared insolvent or found deficient under Arkansas Code § 23-40-119(f)(1)(A) or § 23-40-119(f)(1)(B).