2594                                         LAWS OF MARYLAND                      [Ch. 752

whole or in part upon such irrelevant considerations as
race, color, religion or creed, sex, national origin or
place of residency and the like;

WHEREAS, The General Assembly of Maryland has
determined further that the general welfare of the People
of Maryland in the vital area of insurance requires that,
in those particular instances where the underwriting
decisions of insurers and insurance agents and brokers,
with regard to both eligibility and acceptability of
applicants for insurance and insureds, are to be examined
upon demand by applicants for insurance or insureds,
since the sole reasonable basis of those decisions lies
exclusively within the actual loss and expense experience
of the insurers as extrapolated and projected through the
expertise of their personnel, and since applicants for
insurance and insureds, as members of the general public,
generally and for the most part have neither adequate
experience nor sufficient expertise to demonstrate any
lack of reasonableness in those decisions, of necessity
the burden of persuasion as to the reasonableness of
those decisions must be placed upon the insurers and the
insurance agents and broker; now, therefore,

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That Section 234A(a) of Article 48A - Insurance
Code, of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1972 Replacement
Volume and 1973 Supplement) be and it is hereby repealed
and re—enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

Article 48A — Insurance Code
234A.

(a) No insurer, agent or broker shall cancel or
refuse to underwrite or renew a particular insurance risk
or class of risk for any reason based in whole or in part
upon race, color, creed or sex of an applicant or
policyholder or for any arbitrary, capricious, or
unfairly discriminatory reason. In the case of a
cancellation of or refusal to renew a policy, provided
the insured requests of the Commissioner that a review be
undertaken of the insurer's action prior to the effective
date of termination of the policy, and provided the
Commissioner initiates action toward issuance of a
finding in accord with § 234C, such policy shall remain
in effect until such finding is issued. NO INSURER,
AGENT OR BROKER MAY CANCEL OR REFUSE TO UNDERWRITE OR
RENEW A PARTICULAR INSURANCE RISK OR CLASS OF RISK EXCEPT
BY THE APPLICATION OF STANDARDS WHICH [[ MAY BE
DEMONSTRATED OBJECTIVELY TO HAVE A DIRECT AND SUBSTANTIAL
EFFECT UPON LOSSES OR EXPENSES]] ARE REASONABLY RELATED
TO THE INSURER'S ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS PURPOSES. AT ANY