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mium is charged, shall be deemed to be a policy written on the date such change was made.

RECOVERY OF PREMIUMS; STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

SEC. 1224. (a) The Director, in a suit brought in the appropriate United States district court, shall be entitled to recover from any insurer the amount of any unpaid premiums lawfully payable by any such insurer to the Director.

(b) No action or proceeding shall be brought for the recovery of any premium due to the Director for reinsurance, or for the recovery of any premium paid to the Director in excess of the amount due to him, unless such action or proceeding shall have been brought within five years after the right accrued for which the claim is made, except that, where the insurer has made or filed with the Director a false or fraudulent annual statement, or other document with the intent to evade, in whole or in part, the payment of premiums, the claim shall not be deemed to have accured until it discovery by the Director.

PART C-FEDERAL INSURANCE Against BurglarY AND THEFT

REVIEW AND PROGRAM AUTHORITY

SEC. 1231. (a) The Director shall conduct a continuing review of the market availability situation in each of the several States to determine whether crime insurance is available at affordable rates either through the normal insurance market or through a suitable program adopted under State law.

(b) Upon determining pursuant to subsection (a) that, at any time on or after August 1, 1971, a critical market unavailability situation for crime insurance then exists in any State and has not been met through appropriate State action, the Director is authorized to make crime insurance available at affordable rates within such State through the facilities of the Federal Government. Such insurance shall be provided upon such terms and conditions, and subject to such deductibles and other restrictions and limitations, as the Director deems appropriate, but no such insurance shall be made available to a property which the Director determines to be uninsurable or to a property with respect to which reasonable protective measures to prevent loss, consistent with standards established by the Director, have not been adopted.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, direct insurance may be continued for the term of the policies written prior to the date of termination of the Director's direct insurance authority under this part, for as long as the insured pays the required direct insurance premiums; except that direct insurance under this part for any risk shall be termined after notice whenever the Director determines that the standard lines of crime insurance otherwise have become available to such property at affordable rates.

USE OF EXISTNG FACILITIES AND SERVICES

SEC. 1232. In carrying out his responsibilities under this part, the Director may utilize

(1) insurance companies and other insurers, insurance agents and brokers, and insurance adjustment organizations, as fiscal agents of the United States,

(2) such other officers and employees of any executive agency (as defined in section 105 of title 5 of the United States Code) as the Director and the head of any such agency may from time to time agree upon, on a reimbursement or other basis or (3) both the alternatives specified in paragraphs (1) and (2), or any combination therof.

ESTABLISHMENT OF AFFORDABLE RATES

SEC. 1233. In estimating the affordable rates for the various crime insurance coverages offered from time to time under this part, the Director shall consult with appropriate State insurance authorities and other knowledgeable persons and is authorized to take into consideration the nature and degree of the risks involved, the protective devices employed, the extent of anticipated losses, the prevailing rates for similar coverages in adjacent or comparable areas and territories, the economic importance of the various individual coverages and the type of property involved, and the relatives abilities of the particular classes and types of insureds to pay the full estimated costs of such coverages. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or require either the adoption of uniform national rates or the periodic modification of currently estimated affordable rates for any particular line or subline of coverage, class, State, territory, or risk on the basis of additional information or actual loss experience.

REPORTS ON OPERATIONS

SEC. 1234. The Director shall include in his reports to the Congress on the program authorized by this title full and complete information on his operations and activities under this part, together with such recommendations with respect thereto as he may deem appropriate.

PART D-PROVISIONS OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY

CLAIMS AND JUDICIAL REVIEW

SEC. 1241. (a) All reinsurance or direct insurance claims for losses under this title shall be submitted by insurers of property owners in accordance with such terms and conditions as may be established by the Director.

(b)(1) Upon disallowance of any claim under color of reinsurance or direct insurance made available under this title, or upon refusal of the claimant to accept the amount allowed upon any such claim, the claimant may institute an action against the Director on such claim in the United States district court for the district in which a major portion (in terms of value) of the claim arose.

(2) Any such action must be begun within one year after the date upon which the claimant received written notice of disallowance or partial disallowance of the claim, and exclusive jurisdiction is

hereby conferred upon United States district courts to hear and determine such actions without regard to the amount of controversy.

FISCAL INTERMEDIARIES AND SERVICING AGENTS

SEC. 1242. (a) In order to provide for maximum efficiency in the administration of the reinsurance and direct insurance programs under this title, and in order to facilitate the expeditious payment of any funds under such program, the Director may enter into contracts with any insurer, pool, or other person, for the purpose of providing for the performance of any or all of the following functions:

(1) estimating or determining any amounts of payments for reinsurance or direct insurance claims;

(2) receiving and disbursing and accounting for funds in making payments for reinsurance or direct insurance claims; (3) auditing the records of any insurer, pool, or other person to the extent necessary to assure that proper payments are made;

(4) establishing the basis of liability of reinsurance or direct insurance payments, including the total amount of proved and approved claims which may be payable to any insurer or property owner, and the total amount of premiums earned by any insurer in the respective States for reinsured or directly insured lines of property insurance; and

(5) otherwise assisting in any manner provided in the contract to further the purposes of this title.

(b)(1) Any such contract may require the insurer, pool, or other person, or any of its officers or employees certifying payments or disbursing funds pursuant to the contract, or otherwise participating in carrying out the contract, to give surety bonds to the United States in such amounts as the Director may deem appropriate. (2) In the absence of gross negligence or intent to defraud the United States

(A) no individual designated pursuant to a contract under this section to certify payments shall be liable with respect to any payment certified by him under this section; and

(B) no officer of the United States disbursing funds shall be liable with respect to any otherwise proper payment by him if it was based on a voucher signed by an individual designated pursuant to a contract under this section to certify payments.

NATIONAL INSURANCE DEVELOPMENT FUND

SEC. 1243. (a) To carry out the programs authorized under this title, the Director is authorized to establish a National Insurance Development Fund (hereinafter called the "fund") which shall be available, without fiscal year limitations

(1) to make such payments as may, from time to time, be requried under reinsurance and direct insurance contracts under this title;

(2) to pay such administrative expenses as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this title; and

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(3) to repay to the Secretary of the Treasury such sums, including interest thereon, as may be borrowed from him for purposes of such programs under section 520(b).

(b) The fund shall be credited with

(1) reinsurance and direct insurance premiums, fees, and other charges which may be paid or collected in connection with reinsurance and direct insurance provided under parts B and C;

(2) interest which may be earned on investments of the fund; (3) such amounts as may be advanced to the fund from appropriations in order to maintain the fund in an operative condition adequate to meet its liabilities;

(4) such amounts which are hereby authorized to be appropriated as may be necessary from time to time to reimburse the fund for losses and expenses (including administrative expenses) incurred in carrying out the program authorized under part C;

(5) receipts from any other source which may, from time to time, be credited to the fund; and

(6) funds borrowed by the Director under section 520(b) and deposited in the fund.

(c) If, after any amounts which may have been advanced to the fund from appropriations have been credited to the appropriation from which advanced (including interest thereon at the rate prescribed under section 520(b)), the Director determines that the moneys of the fund are in excess of current needs, he may request the investment of such amounts as he deems advisable by the Secretary of the Treasury in obligations issued or guaranteed by the United States.

(d) An annual business-type budget for the fund shall be prepared, transmitted to the Congress, considered, and enacted in the manner prescribed by law (sections 102, 103, and 104 of the Government Corporation Control Act (31 U.S.C. 847-849))1 for wholly owned Government corporations.

RECORDS, ANNUAL STATEMENT, AND AUDITS

SEC. 1244. (a) Any insurer, pool, or property owner acquiring reinsurance or direct insurance under this title shall furnish the Director with such summaries and analyses of information in its records as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this title, in such form as the Director, in cooperation with the State insurance authority, shall, by rules and regulations prescribe. The Director shall make use of State insurance authority examination reports and facilities to the maximum extent feasible.

(b) Any insurer or pool acquiring reinsurance under this title shall file with the Director a true and correct copy of any annual statement, or amendment thereof, filed with the State insurance authority of its domiciliary State, at the time it files such statement or amendment with such State insurance authority.

1 Sections 102, 103, and 104 of the Government Corporation Control Act have been codified as sections 9103 and 9104 of title 31, United States Code.

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(c) Any insurer or other person executing any contract, agreement, or other appropriate arrangement with the Director under section 1222 or section 1242 shall keep reasonable records which fully disclose the total costs of the programs undertaken or the services being rendered, and such other records as will facilitate an effective audit of liability for reinsurance or direct insurance payments by the Director.

(d) The Director and the Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, shall have access for the purpose of investigation, audit, and examination to any books, documents, papers, and records of any insurer or other person that are pertinent to the costs of any program undertaken for, or services rendered to, the Director. Such audits shall be conducted to the maximum extent feasible in cooperation with the State insurance authorities and through the use of their examining facilities.

STUDY OF REINSURANCE AND OTHER PROGRAMS

SEC. 1245. (a) The Director is authorized and directed to conduct a study of reinsurance and other means to help assure

(1) an adequate market for burglary and theft and other property insurance in urban areas; and

(2) adequate availability of surety bonds for construction contractors in urban areas.

(b) The Director shall submit the results of this study, together with appropriate recommendations, to the President and Congress no later than June 30, 1970.

OTHER STUDIES

SEC. 1246. (a) The Director is authorized to undertake such studies as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this title including, but not limited to inquiries concerning

(1) the operation of plans under part A;

(2) the extent to which essential property insurance is unavailable in urban areas;

(3) the market for private reinsurance; and

(4) loss prevention methods and procedures, insurance marketing methods, and underwriting techniques.

(b) To such extent and under such circumstances as may be practicable and feasible, the Director shall conduct any study authorized under this section in cooperation with State insurance authorities and the private insurance industry.

GENERAL POWERS

SEC. 1247. In the performance of, and with respect to, the functions, powers, and duties vested in him by this title, the Director shall (in addition to any authority otherwise vested in him) have the functions, powers, and duties (including the authority to issue rules and regulations) of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development set forth in section 402, except subsections (c)(2), (d), and (f), of the Housing Act of 1950. Any rules or regulations of the Director shall only be issued after full consultation with the Board

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