73R2853 PB-F
          By Chisum, et al.                                      H.B. No. 431
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the regulation of viatical settlements by the State
    1-3  Board of Insurance.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 3, Insurance Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Article 3.50-6A to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 3.50-6A.  VIATICAL SETTLEMENTS
    1-8        Sec. 1.  DEFINITION.  In this article, "viatical settlement"
    1-9  means a contract, entered into by an insured with a terminal
   1-10  illness who owns a life insurance policy insuring the life of the
   1-11  insured, under which the insured assigns or transfers the insurance
   1-12  policy to another person or entity for valuable consideration.
   1-13        Sec. 2.  REGULATION BY BOARD.  The board has exclusive
   1-14  jurisdiction in this state to regulate viatical settlements,
   1-15  regardless of form, including regulation of a transaction that
   1-16  would otherwise be governed by The Securities Act (Article 581-1 et
   1-17  seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
   1-18        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-23  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-24  passage, and it is so enacted.