(a) It is the policy of the county government to provide an adequate comprehensive insurance program to compensate for injury to persons or damage to property resulting from negligence or other wrongful acts of the county’s public officials, employees and agents and to provide protection for property of the county and for officials, employees, and agents acting within the scope of their duties.
(b) The county is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt or install a plan or system of group health and life insurance and group hospitalization in cooperation with the employees or any portion thereof in any office, agency or branch of the government of the county and with paid employees of quasi-public corporations engaged in the performance of governmental functions, such as fire departments, whenever it may deem such to be advisable in the interest of the health, comfort and welfare of the county.
(c) The county is further authorized and empowered to provide for an adequate comprehensive insurance program to compensate for injury or death of persons or damage to property resulting from negligence, deprivation of civil rights, malpractice or any other type of civil or tortious action resulting from the negligence or wrongful act of any public official, agent or employee within the scope of official duties. The county is also hereby authorized and empowered to provide for an adequate comprehensive insurance program including but not limited to comprehensive general liability, auto, fire, boiler, workmen’s compensation and comprehensive auto liability. The insurance program may be provided by purchase of insurance coverage from insurance companies authorized to do business in the State of Maryland or it may be provided by a self-insurance program funded by appropriations by the county council or by a combination of purchased insurance coverage and self-insurance, subject to the granting of all necessary approvals by the State of Maryland for the self-insuring of workmen’s compensation and comprehensive auto liability coverage. The insurance program shall provide for defense of claims as well as compensation for damages and the county is authorized within the limits of appropriations of the funded insurance program to engage necessary claims investigators and adjusters, to provide for defense with attorneys to be selected as provided in the charter, and to settle claims and pay lawful judgments.
(d) The county is further authorized to cooperate with and enter into agreements with participating agencies, including, but not limited to, the Montgomery County Board of Education, the fire departments and rescue squads, Montgomery College, the Montgomery County Revenue Authority, the housing opportunities commission, any bi-county agency, any municipality or any other governmental agency within or without the State of Maryland, for the purpose of obtaining and providing comprehensive insurance coverage in the most economical manner. A participating agency includes the public officials, employees and agents of the participating agencies.
(e) A self-insurance program is established subject to the following conditions:
(1) The self-insurance program shall be known as the Montgomery County self- insurance program. Regulations governing the administration of the Montgomery County self-insurance fund shall be approved by the chief administrative officer of Montgomery County.
(2) The county attorney shall provide defense for claims against each participating agency, its public officials, employees and agents and shall consult with and advise counsel for each participating agency as to the status of each claim against the participating agency. Legal counsel for the participating agency may elect to enter into the defense of any claims against the participating agency, but such participation shall not be funded out of the self-insurance program unless authorized by the county attorney.
(3) Insurance protection furnished to the participating agencies by the Montgomery County self-insurance program will not be less than the coverage provided under the independent insurance programs of the participating agencies when they begin to receive coverage from the fund.
(4) The county council, upon the recommendation of the county executive, shall annual appropriate to the Montgomery County self-insurance program sufficient funds to provide for the program’s premium cost, claim expense and adequate claims reserves in addition to providing for the operating requirements of the program’s risk management operation.
(5) An interagency insurance panel is established to advise the participating agencies on risk management and all aspects of a comprehensive loss control program for the county self-insurance program. The panel will prepare standardized procedures for review and approval by the chief administrative officer of the county. The panel will consist of one (1) representative each from the participating agencies; the county representative be the director of the Montgomery County department of finance, who shall serve as chairperson of the panel. The representative from each other participating agency shall be designated by the administrative officer of the participating agency. Such appointments shall remain in effect until such time as the county’s finance director is advised that a new appointment to the panel has been made.
(6) The interagency insurance panel shall prepare an annual budget for the Montgomery County self-insurance program, which shall include a list of charge-backs required to provide insurance coverage to those county departments and funds that currently are charged by the county’s finance department for their insurance coverage. The interagency insurance panel shall also include in the budget the amount which is required to adequately fund the county self-insurance program’s unencumbered claims reserve according to the standards contained in this chapter. The panel shall contract with an insurance consultant as necessary to assist them in setting the claims reserve requirement and rate estimates contained in their recommended budget. The proposed budget of the Montgomery County self-insurance program shall be submitted to the administrative officer of each participating agency by the interagency insurance panel no later than November first of each year. Any comments which these officials wish to make on the proposed budget of the county self-insurance program shall be returned to the interagency insurance panel by November twelfth of that year. The interagency insurance panel shall submit the proposed budget of the county self-insurance program along with all comments received from administrative officers, if any, to the county executive, not later than December first of that year. The interagency insurance panel shall also prepare a list of all safety related expenses which they feel should be placed in the budgets of participating agencies along with a detailed justification for such expenses. This list shall accompany the proposed budget of the county self-insurance program throughout the budgetary process.
(7) Copies of all meeting minutes and applicable status reports prepared by the interagency insurance panel shall be provided to the administrative officer of each participating agency. Copies of all standardized procedures developed by the interagency insurance panel, in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, shall be provided to the administrative officer of each participating agency, following their approval by the interagency insurance panel and the chief administrative officer of the county.
(f) (1) Subject to appropriations, the county may, by order of the county executive, provide for securing the county self-insurance program in whole or in part by the establishment of trust funds or escrow funds, with or without credit support, in an aggregate amount not to exceed ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00).
(2) a. The form of credit support for the county self-insurance program may include but is not limited to a line or lines of credit with one (1) or more financial institutions in an amount not to exceed ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00). The county executive may enter into a contract or contracts for the line or lines of credit under which the county may borrow the sums, from time to time and upon its full faith and credit, under the terms and conditions as may be appropriate in the judgment of the county executive, to implement the purposes of this article.
b. The provisions of chapter 11B of this Code do not apply to the selection by the county executive of a financial institution to furnish a line of credit.
c. Any advances under the line or lines of credit, together with any interest on the advances, are payable from unlimited ad valorem taxes levied upon all assessable property within the corporate limits of the county. In each and every fiscal year that any advances under the line or lines of credit are or will be outstanding, the county must levy or cause to be levied ad valorem taxes upon all the assessable property within the corporate limits of the county in rate and amount sufficient when combined with other available revenues to provide for the payment, when due, of the principal of and interest on the advances becoming due in the fiscal year. In the event the proceeds from the taxes levied and other available revenues in any fiscal year are inadequate for the payment, additional taxes must be levied in the succeeding fiscal year to make up the deficiency.
(g) This chapter, or any regulations adopted under this chapter, does not constitute or must not be interpreted as a waiver of the right of the county to rely on and raise the defense of sovereign or governmental immunity on behalf of the county or any participating agency when the county or the participating agency deems it appropriate. (1978 L.M.C., ch. 37, § 1; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 51, § 1; 1986 L.M.C., ch. 44, §§ 1, 2; 1993 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 1.)
Editor’s note—Section 20-37 is quoted in Montgomery County v. Distel, 436 Md. 226, 81 A.3d 397 (2013).
Section 20-37 is quoted in Menefee v. State, 12 A.3d 153 (Md. 2011). Section 20-37 is interpreted in Montgomery County Board of Education v. Horace Mann Insurance Co., 154 Md. App. 502, 840 A.2d 220 (2003), affirmed, 383 Md. 527, 860 A.2d 909 (2004). This section is cited in Potter v. Bethesda Fire Department, Inc., 309 Md. 347, 524 A.2d 61 (1987) and in Potter v. Bethesda Fire Department, Inc., 59 Md. App. 228, 474 A.2d 1365 (1984). This section is interpreted in Utica Mutual Insurance Company v. Gaithersburg- Washington Grove Fire Department, Inc., 53 Md. App. 589, 455 A.2d 987 (1983) and is cited in King v. Gleason, 32 Md. App. 145, 359 A.2d 242 (1976).
See County Attorney Opinion dated 11/14/11 regarding the County’s liability for errors in the administration of the pension and retirement funds of employees. See County Attorney Opinion dated 10/7/04 regarding the County’s self-insurance fund’s obligation to cover DPS Advisory Committee members when acting within the scope of their duties as Committee members. See County Attorney Opinion dated 10/7/04 discussing year-end adjustments to the budget and its effect on budget preparation for the following year. See County Attorney Opinion dated 6/20/96 explaining that the Code does not require a particular level of coverage for members of the self-insurance fund interagency agreement, nor does it define the duration of the agencies’ membership in the fund.