State RegulationsNJ specificDifficulty 1/5
Which power does the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance exercise under the department's rulemaking authority?
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why D is correct
N.J.S.A. 17:1-8.1 and N.J.S.A. 17:1-15e vest rulemaking authority in the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance: the department adopts administrative rules and regulations that carry the statutes into day-to-day effect. These regulations fill in operational detail — licensing procedure, filing standards, conduct rules — and have the force of law once adopted. The Commissioner implements and enforces the law the legislature wrote; the department does not legislate or imprison.
Why the other options are wrong
- A) Enacting statutes is the legislature's function; the Commissioner adopts regulations to implement statutes already enacted.
- B) Criminal sentences are imposed by the courts, not by an administrative regulator; the department's tools are orders, penalties, and license discipline.
- C) Commission rates are negotiated between insurers and producers; the department's rulemaking power does not extend to setting them.
Memory hook
The Commissioner writes the how-to rules; the legislature wrote the law itself.