If the General Assembly fails to approve the department's budget for the purposes of this act, by the last day of November, the department shall assess insurers, self-insurers and the State Workmen's Insurance Fund on the basis of that last approved operating budget. At such time as the General Assembly approves the proposed budget the department shall have the authority to make an adjustment in the assessments to reflect the approved budget. If the General Assembly fails to approve the department's budget prior to July 1 of any fiscal year, moneys in the fund are hereby appropriated to the department for the purposes of this act.
Within fifteen days after the receipt of such notice, the insurer or self-insurer against which such assessment has been made may file with the department objections setting out in detail the grounds upon which the objector regards such assessment to be excessive, erroneous, unlawful, or invalid. The department, after notice to the objector, shall hold a hearing upon such objections. After such hearing, the department shall record its findings on the objections and shall transmit to the objector, by registered or certified mail, notice of the amount, if any, charged against it in accordance with such findings, which amount or any installment thereof then due, shall be paid by the objector within ten days after receipt of notice of the findings. If any payment prescribed by this subsection is not made as aforesaid, the secretary of the department may recommend to the Insurance Commissioner that appropriate action be taken against the insurer or self-insurer, including revocation or suspension of the company's license to transact business in the Commonwealth.
No suit or proceeding shall be maintained in any court for the purpose of restraining or in anywise delaying the collection or payment of any assessment made under this subsection but every insurer or self-insurer against which an assessment is made shall pay the same as provided in subsection (c) of this section. Any insurer or self-insurer making any such payment may, at any time within two years from the date of payment, sue the Commonwealth in an action at law to recover the amount paid, or any part thereof, upon the ground that the assessment was excessive, erroneous, unlawful, invalid, in whole or in part, provided objections, as hereinbefore provided, were filed with the department, and payment of the assessment was made under protest either as to all or part thereof. In any action for recovery of any payments made under this section, the claimant shall be entitled to raise every relevant issue of law, but the findings of fact made by the department, pursuant to this section, shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated. If it is finally determined in any such action that all or any part of the assessment for which payment was made under protest was excessive, erroneous, unlawful, or invalid, the department shall make a refund to the claimant out of the fund, as directed by the court.
The department shall keep a record of the manner in which it shall have computed the amount assessed against every insurer or self-insurer. Such records shall be open to inspection by all interested parties. The determination of such assessments and the records and data upon which the same are made, shall be considered prima facie correct; and in any proceeding instituted to challenge the reasonableness or correctness of any assessment under this section, the party challenging the same shall have the burden of proof.
77 P.S. § 1000.2