§ 160-JJ — Assessment of fund members; customer surcharges; audit powers of the fund, the board and the fund's insurer

§ 160-jj. Assessment of fund members; customer surcharges; audit\npowers of the fund, the board and the fund's insurer. 1. To pay (a) the\ncosts of the insurance purchased pursuant to subdivision three of\nsection one hundred sixty-ii of this article or (b) the benefits due\nunder the workers' compensation law in the event the fund self-insures\npursuant to subdivision two of section one hundred sixty-ii of this\narticle, and to pay (c) its expenses in carrying out its powers and\nduties under this article and (d) its liabilities, if any, pursuant to\nsection fourteen-a of the workers' compensation law, the fund shall\nascertain by reasonable estimate the total funding necessary to carry on\nits operations.\n 2. Based upon its estimation of operating costs, the fund shall\nestablish a proposed uniform percentage surcharge to be added to (a) the\ninvoices or billings for covered services sent to the customers of the\nfund's members by a member or its agent and (b) the credit payments for\ncovered services received by a member or its agent. The proposed\nsurcharge shall become effective thirty days after being filed with the\ndepartment. Notwithstanding the foregoing, beginning on the first day of\nthe first calendar month that shall commence at least seventy-five days\nafter the effective date of this article, and until the fund shall have\nfiled with the department a different surcharge amount, a three percent\nsurcharge shall be added to every invoice or billing for covered\nservices sent by a member or its agent to, and every credit payment for\ncovered services received by a member or its agent from, the customers\nof the fund's members. Each member of the fund shall be liable for\npayment to the fund of an amount equal to the product of (i) the\npercentages surcharge due pursuant to this article, divided by one\nhundred and (ii) all payments received by the member or its agent for\ncovered services from the member's customers, as provided in this\nsubdivision, regardless of whether the surcharge was billed or charged.\n 3. No local licensing authority or the department or the New York\nstate department of motor vehicles shall issue, continue or renew any\nlicense or registration certificate, or permit for the operation of any\ncentral dispatch facility unless such central dispatch facility, as a\ncondition of maintaining its license and/or registration certificate,\nadds the surcharge required by this section to every invoice and billing\nfor covered services sent to, and every credit payment for covered\nservices received from, its customers and pays to the fund no later than\nthe fifteenth day of each month the total surcharges due pursuant to\nthis article.\n 4. Each central dispatch facility shall submit to the fund with its\nmonthly payment a detailed accounting of the charge and surcharge\namounts charged to and received from customers for covered services\nduring the previous month. The first such payment and accounting shall\nbe due on the fifteenth day of the month following the imposition of the\nsurcharge pursuant to subdivision two of this section.\n 5. Should the fund determine that the surcharge amounts that have been\npaid to it are inadequate to meet its obligations under this article, it\nshall determine the surcharge rate required to eliminate such deficiency\nand shall file such revised surcharge rate with the department in\naccordance with subdivision two of this section. Commencing thirty days\nafter such filing, the members of the fund shall charge the revised\nsurcharge rate and shall pay to the fund the total amount of surcharges\nin accordance with this article.\n 6. The fund shall have the power directly or through its agent to\nconduct financial audits of its members to verify their compliance with\nthe requirements of this article. The fund or its agent shall be\nafforded convenient access at all reasonable hours to all books, records\nand other documents of its members that may be relevant to such audits.\n 7. For the purposes of conducting payroll audits, an insurer providing\ncoverage to the fund pursuant to this article may treat the members of\nthe fund as policyholders. Members of the fund shall be required to do\nall things required of employers pursuant to section one hundred\nthirty-one of the workers' compensation law, and shall be required to\nprovide the board access to any and all records and information as\notherwise required by the workers' compensation law and the regulations\npromulgated thereunder, and shall be liable as provided in the workers'\ncompensation law for any failure so to do.\n