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.