By:  Harris, C.                                        S.B. No. 417
       73R2007 PB-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to disclosures required in the sale of certain single
    1-3  interest insurance policies.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 21, Insurance Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Article 21.72 to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 21.72.  DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN SINGLE
    1-8  INTEREST INSURANCE POLICIES.  (a)  In this article:
    1-9              (1)  "County mutual insurance company" means an entity
   1-10  subject to Chapter 17 of this code.
   1-11              (2)  "Creditor" means a person that provides financing
   1-12  for personal property involved in a consumer credit transaction.
   1-13              (3)  "Insurer" includes a county mutual insurance
   1-14  company.
   1-15              (4)  "Person" means an individual, corporation,
   1-16  association, partnership, or other private legal entity.
   1-17              (5)  "Single interest insurance policy" means a policy
   1-18  of insurance required by a creditor in a consumer credit
   1-19  transaction that protects the interests of the creditor.  The term
   1-20  includes a policy of credit life insurance or credit accident and
   1-21  health insurance regulated under Article 3.53 of this code.
   1-22        (b)  Each insurer that offers a single interest insurance
   1-23  policy to a potential borrower in a consumer credit transaction
   1-24  shall provide the potential borrower with a written statement that:
    2-1              (1)  describes what single interest insurance is and
    2-2  whom it is designed to protect;
    2-3              (2)  the total cost to the borrower of the policy; and
    2-4              (3)  if the insurer is a county mutual insurance
    2-5  company, the fact that equivalent coverage may be purchased from
    2-6  sources other than county mutual insurance companies.
    2-7        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
    2-8  applies only to a single interest insurance policy that is offered
    2-9  for delivery on or after January 1, 1994.  A policy that is offered
   2-10  for delivery before January 1, 1994, is governed by the law as it
   2-11  existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that
   2-12  law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-13        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.