Database and fund created, purpose, administration

303.406. Database and fund created, purpose, administration — disclosure, when, violations, penalties — review and report to general assembly. — 1. The "Motorist Insurance Identification Database" is hereby created for the purpose of establishing a database to use to verify compliance with the motor vehicle financial responsibility requirements of this chapter. The program shall be administered by the department and shall receive funding from the "Motorist Insurance Identification Database Fund", which is hereby created in the state treasury. Effective July 1, 2002, the state treasurer shall credit to and deposit in the motorist insurance identification database fund six percent of the net general revenue portion received from collections of the insurance premiums tax levied and collected pursuant to sections 148.310 to 148.461.

2. To implement the program, the department may by July 1, 2002, contract with a designated agent which shall monitor compliance with the motor vehicle financial responsibility requirements of this chapter, except that the program shall not be implemented to notify owners of registered motor vehicles until the department certifies that the accuracy rate of the program exceeds ninety-five percent in correctly identifying owners of registered motor vehicles as having maintained or failed to maintain financial responsibility. After the department has entered into a contract with a designated agent, the department shall convene a working group for the purpose of facilitating the implementation of the program.

3. The designated agent, using its own computer network, shall, no later than December 31, 2002, develop, deliver and maintain a computer database with information provided by:

(1) Insurers, pursuant to sections 303.400 to 303.415; except that, any person who qualifies as self-insured pursuant to this chapter, or provides proof of insurance to the director pursuant to the provisions of section 303.160, shall not be required to provide information to the designated agent, but the state shall supply these records to the designated agent for inclusion in the database; and

(2) The department, which shall provide the designated agent with the name, date of birth and address of all persons in its computer database, and the make, year and vehicle identification number of all registered motor vehicles.

4. The department shall establish guidelines for the designated agent's development of the computer database so the database can be easily accessed by state and local law enforcement agencies within procedures already established, and shall not require additional computer keystrokes or other additional procedures by dispatch or law enforcement personnel. Once the database is operational, the designated agent shall, at least monthly, update the database with information provided by insurers and the department, and compare then-current motor vehicle registrations against the database.

5. Information provided to the designated agent by insurers and the department for inclusion in the database established pursuant to this section is the property of the insurer or the department, as the case may be, and is not subject to disclosure pursuant to chapter 610. Such information may not be disclosed except as follows:

(1) The designated agent shall verify a person's insurance coverage upon request by any state or local government agency investigating, litigating or enforcing such person's compliance with the motor vehicle financial responsibility requirements of this chapter;

(2) The department shall disclose whether an individual is maintaining the required insurance coverage upon request of the following individuals and agencies only:

(a) The individual;

(b) The parent or legal guardian of an individual if the individual is an unemancipated minor;

(c) The legal guardian of the individual if the individual is legally incapacitated;

(d) Any person who has power of attorney from the individual;

(e) Any person who submits a notarized release from the individual that is dated no more than ninety days before the request is made;

(f) Any person claiming loss or injury in a motor vehicle accident in which the individual is involved;

(g) The office of the state auditor, for the purpose of conducting any audit authorized by law.

6. Any person or agency who knowingly discloses information from the database for any purpose, or to a person, other than those authorized in this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. The state shall not be liable to any person for gathering, managing or using information in the database pursuant to this section. The designated agent shall not be liable to any person for performing its duties pursuant to this section unless and to the extent such agent commits a willful and wanton act or omission or is negligent. The designated agent shall be liable to any insurer damaged by the designated agent's negligent failure to protect the confidentiality of the information and data disclosed by the insurer to the designated agent. The designated agent shall provide to this state an errors and omissions insurance policy covering such agent in an appropriate amount. No insurer shall be liable to any person for performing its duties pursuant to this section unless and to the extent the insurer commits a willful and wanton act of omission.

7. The department shall review the operation and performance of the motorist insurance identification database program to determine whether the number of uninsured motorists has* declined during the first three years following implementation and shall submit a report of its findings to the general assembly no later than January fifteenth of the year following the third complete year of implementation. The department shall make copies of its report available to each member of the general assembly.

8. This section shall not supersede other actions or penalties that may be taken or imposed for violation of the motor vehicle financial responsibility requirements of this chapter.

9. The working group as provided for in subsection 2 of this section shall consist of representatives from the insurance industry, department of commerce and insurance, department of public safety and the department of revenue. The director of revenue, after consultation with the working group, shall promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to administer and enforce this section. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated pursuant to the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to the provisions of chapter 536.