By Dutton                                             H.B. No. 1813
       74R6416 PB-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to eligibility for qualification as a self-insurer to
    1-3  satisfy certain proof of financial responsibility requirements.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 34, Texas Motor Vehicle
    1-6  Safety-Responsibility Act (Article 6701h, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-7  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 34.  SELF-INSURERS.  (a)  A <Any> person in whose name
    1-9  more than 25 motor vehicles are registered may qualify as a
   1-10  self-insurer by obtaining a certificate of self-insurance issued by
   1-11  the Department as provided by <in> Subsection (b) of this Section.
   1-12        (b)  On the application of a person eligible under Subsection
   1-13  (a) of this section, the <The> Department may<, in its discretion,
   1-14  upon the application of a person,> issue a certificate of
   1-15  self-insurance when it is satisfied that the <such> person:
   1-16              (1)  is possessed and will continue to be possessed of
   1-17  ability to pay judgments obtained against the <such> person; and
   1-18              (2)  is in compliance with the requirements imposed
   1-19  under Subsections (c) and (d) of this section.
   1-20        (c)  A person who self-insures under this section is subject
   1-21  to Article 21.55, Insurance Code, as if the person were an insurer
   1-22  under that article.
   1-23        (d)  A person who self-insures under this section shall use
   1-24  the services of an insurance adjuster licensed under Chapter 407,
    2-1  Acts of the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article
    2-2  21.07-4, Vernon's Texas Insurance Code), to investigate or adjust a
    2-3  loss in a claim involving a motor vehicle registered to the person.
    2-4        (e)  Upon not less than five (5) days notice and a hearing
    2-5  pursuant to such notice, the Department may upon reasonable grounds
    2-6  cancel a certificate of self-insurance.  Failure to pay any
    2-7  judgment within thirty (30) days after such judgment shall have
    2-8  become final shall constitute a reasonable ground for the
    2-9  cancellation of a certificate of self-insurance.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-11  applies only to a certificate of self-insurance that is issued  or
   2-12  renewed by the Department of Public Safety on or after January 1,
   2-13  1996.  A certificate that is issued or renewed before January 1,
   2-14  1996, is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
   2-15  effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
   2-16  that purpose.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.