Amend CSSB 1155 by striking all below the enacting clause and
substituting in lieu thereof the following:
      SECTION 1.  Article 9.37, Insurance Code, is amended by
adding Section F to read as follows:
      F.  After notice and hearing, the commissioner may revoke or
suspend a license issued under this chapter if the commissioner
finds the existence of any material fact or condition that either
did not exist or was not disclosed at the time of the original
application for the license but was required to be disclosed at
that time and that, had such fact or condition existed or been
disclosed at that time, clearly would have warranted refusal to
issue the license.
      SECTION 2.  Chapter 9, Insurance Code, is amended by adding
Article 9.36B to read as follows:
      Art. 9.36B.  ADDITIONAL LICENSING REQUIREMENTS.  (a)  A
person, firm, entity, association, or corporation licensed or
applying for a license as a title insurance agent or direct
operation in a county in this state shall provide evidence to the
department that:
            (1)  the title insurance agent or direct operation owns
or leases, in accordance with this chapter, an abstract plant or
plants for the county or counties in this state for which the title
insurance agent or direct operation is licensed and from which the
furnished title evidence must be utilized for title examination by
the independent, bona fide employees of such title insurance agent
or direct operation in connection with any transaction in such
county or counties for which such title insurance agent or direct
operation receives a portion of the title premium;
            (2)  the title insurance agent or direct operation is
actually involved in closing the transaction, as defined by the
procedural rules, and that such services are performed by
(i) independent, bona fide employees or officers of the title
insurance agent or direct operation who are licensed escrow
officers of the title insurance agent or direct operation; or
(ii) in a county with a population in excess of 500,000 or adjacent
county thereto with a population in excess of 100,000, another
licensed title insurance agent or direct operation pursuant to a
written agreement; provided, however, that the fee paid for such
services shall be no less than 40 percent of the total retained
title premium;
            (3)  the title insurance agent or direct operation will
not close or settle real estate transactions for real property
located in a county in this state other than a county for which the
title insurance agent or direct operation is licensed, unless the
title insurance agent or direct operation pays a fee for the
furnishing of title evidence and title examination to the licensed
title insurance agents or direct operations from which such other
counties' title evidence and title examination is derived of not
less than:
                  (A)  24.5 percent of the total retained premium
collected in the settlement for the services, if the county for
which the title evidence and title examination is performed has a
population of 100,000 or more; and
                  (B)  36.5 percent of the total retained premium
collected in the settlement for the services if the county for
which the title evidence and title examination is performed has a
population of less than 100,000;
            (4)  except as provided in Subdivision (5) of this
subsection, the title insurance agent or direct operation will not
engage in the title examination of furnished title evidence for a
fee with respect to a county other than a county in which the title
insurance agent's or direct operation's abstract plant is licensed;
and
            (5)  in a county with a population in excess of 500,000
or county adjacent thereto with a population in excess of 100,000,
a title insurance agent or direct operation may engage in the title
examination of furnished title evidence for a fee with respect to a
county other than the county in which the title insurance agent's
or direct operation's abstract plant is licensed only so long as
the fee paid for such service is no more than 20 percent of the
total retained premium collected in the settlement.
      (b)  This article does not apply to services provided by an
attorney in connection with a title examination or closing a
transaction if the services are provided in accordance with this
chapter and department rules.
      (c)  A material agreement, as defined by the commissioner,
between title insurance companies, between title insurance agents,
between direct operations, or between any of these persons, must,
for informational purposes, be provided to the commissioner by all
parties to the agreement.  A subsequent material agreement, as
defined by the commissioner, between such parties must, for
informational purposes, be provided to the commissioner at the time
the agreement is executed.
      (d)  This article does not impair any insurance activity
expressly authorized by federal law.
      (e)  Subject to the provisions of this Act, no person, firm,
entity, association, or corporation shall be denied a license
pursuant to the provisions of this Act as a title insurance agent
or direct operation because all or any portion of the title premium
is received from the owner or affiliates of the title insurance
agent or direct operation.
      (f)  The commissioner, in accordance with the provisions of
this Act, may promulgate rules with respect to the enforcement and
interpretation of this article, the materiality of agreements, and
all information to be provided with respect thereto.
      (g)  The only services for which title premiums may be
divided among licensed title agents, direct operations, and their
title companies under this Act are for (i) closing the transaction;
(ii) the furnishing of title evidence from a licensed title plant
as described in this article; (iii) the title examination of such
title evidence; or (iv) for the purposes of the division of premium
described in Section B(1) of Article 9.30 of this Act.
      SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
applies to new applicants who apply for licensing under Chapter 9,
Insurance Code, as amended by this Act, on or after that date.
Beginning September 1, 1998, this Act applies to title insurance
agents and direct operations licensed before the effective date of
this Act.
      SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby
suspended.