Section 33-35-15. Maintenance of books and records by sponsors; examination by Commissioner; reports of examinations; payment of expenses of examinations

   (a) The Commissioner shall require every sponsor of a prepaid legal services plan to retain at the address shown on its license the plan related books, records, accounts, and vouchers for a term of three years beginning immediately after the completion of the transaction and shall require that they be kept in such manner that the Commissioner or his authorized representatives may readily verify its annual statements and determine whether the plan and the sponsor are in compliance with the law.

(b) The Commissioner or his designee shall at least every three years visit each sponsor of a prepaid legal services plan and examine into such of its affairs as relate to the business of operating the plan. The Commissioner shall have free access to all plan related books, records, accounts, and vouchers of the plan and may summon and examine under oath officers, trustees, agents, and employees of the plan and any other persons regarding the affairs and condition of the plan; provided, however, that no written or oral information need be supplied under this or any other subsection of this chapter in violation of the attorney-client privilege as it is construed by the courts of this state.

(c) Every sponsor of a plan being examined and its officers, employees, and representatives shall produce and make freely accessible to the Commissioner the accounts, records, documents, and files in its possession or control relating to the subject of the examination. The officers, employees, and representatives shall facilitate such examination and aid the examiners as far as it is in their power in making the examination.
   (d)(1) The Commissioner shall make a full written report of each examination made by him containing only facts ascertained from the accounts, records, and documents examined and from the sworn testimony of witnesses.

   (2) The report shall be certified by the Commissioner or by the examiner in charge of the examination and when so certified, after filing as provided in paragraph (3) of this subsection, shall be admissible in evidence in any proceeding brought by the Commissioner against the sponsor of the plan examined or any officer or agent of such sponsor and shall be prima-facie evidence of the facts stated in the report.

   (3) The Commissioner shall furnish a copy of the proposed report to the sponsor of the plan examined not less than 20 days prior to filing the report. If the plan so requests in writing within the 20 day period or such longer period as the Commissioner may grant, the Commissioner shall grant a hearing with respect to the report and shall not file the report until after the hearing and such modifications have been made in the report as the Commissioner may deem proper.

   (4) The Commissioner may withhold from public inspection the report of any examination or investigation for so long as he deems it to be in the public interest or necessary to protect the plan examined from unwarranted injury.

   (5) After the report has been filed, the Commissioner may publish the report or the results of the report in one or more newspapers published in this state if he should deem it to be in the public interest.

(e) The sponsor of the plan so examined shall pay at the direction of the Commissioner all the actual travel and living expenses of the examination. When the examination is made by an examiner who is not a regular employee of the department, the sponsor examined shall pay the proper charges for the services of the examiner and his assistants in an amount approved by the Commissioner. A consolidated account for the examination shall be filed by the examiner with the Commissioner. No sponsor or other entity shall pay and no examiner shall accept any additional emolument on account of any examination. When the examination is conducted in whole or in part by regular salaried employees of the department, payment for the services and proper expenses shall be made by the sponsor examined to the Commissioner; and the payment shall be deposited with the Office of the State Treasurer.

Code 1933, § 56-3514, enacted by Ga. L. 1975, p. 1268, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 8, § 33; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1402, § 18; Ga. L. 2010, p. 863, § 2/SB 296.