WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor Ch. 466

premium or tax due the State Accident Fund for the first six
months, may be collected by the Commission in the same manner and
with the same effect as provided in § 77 of this article for the
collection of premiums or taxes in default.

(e)  In exercising the discretion conferred upon it by
this section and § 15 of this article, the Workmen's Compensation
Commission shall consider the reputation of any insurance company
or association, in which any such employer may desire to insure,
for promptness and fairness in the settlement of compensation
claims, without unreasonable resistance on the part of any such
insurance company, or association, and shall also consider the
financial strength of the employer, the number of employees
employed, the degree of hazard to employees engaged in the
employment, the likelihood or danger of several employees being
injured or killed by one and the same accident, the relative
influence, the different methods, by which compensation may be
assured under this article, are likely to exert upon the employer
and his employees for the prevention of accidents, and any other
facts or conditions bearing upon the security and promptness of
payment of the compensation and the prevention of accidents.

(f)  Any employer who has deposited securities with
the Commission in accordance with the provisions of this section
and the requirements of the Commission, to secure his liability
to pay compensation to his employees, and who thereafter ceases
to be an employer subject to the provisions of this article, or
secures compensation to his employees by insuring in the State
Accident Fund, or with a corporation or association authorized to
transact the business of workmen's compensation insurance of this
State, shall, upon application, be entitled to the return of said
deposited securities, if, within the period of 5 years from the
date he ceased to be an employer subject to the provisions of
this article, or the date upon which he first secured
compensation to his employees in the manner above set forth, no
claim has been made against said employer for which he was liable
as a self-insurer. Provided, however, the Commission after
reviewing any application for the return of said securities shall
have the right to require the applicant to execute and deliver to
the Commission a corporate or personal indemnity bond in the
amount of the value of the securities to be released.

(4) By participation in a self-insurance group that meets
the requirements of Article 48A, Subtitle 43 of the Code.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1987.

Approved May 14, 1987.

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