HBA-ATS, ATS H.B. 2478 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2478
By: Lewis, Glenn
Insurance
4/6/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Enacted in 1993, Article 1.24D (Confidentiality of Underwriting
Guidelines), Insurance Code, authorizes the Texas Department of Insurance
(department) and the office of public insurance counsel to request and
receive copies of an insurer's underwriting guidelines.  Under the statute,
those guidelines are confidential and prohibited from being made available
to the public by the department or the office of public insurance counsel.
The authority of these entities to request copies of underwriting
guidelines does not currently extend to Lloyd's companies, reciprocal or
interinsurance exchanges, mutual assessment companies, and county mutuals.
Accordingly, the associated confidentiality provisions do not extend to
such companies either.  At issue is whether the trade secret value of
underwriting guidelines, which is statutorily recognized for other
insurers, should also be recognized for Lloyd's companies, reciprocal or
interinsurance exchanges, mutual assessment companies, and county mutuals.
These insurers sell the majority of homeowners policies and a significant
number of auto insurance policies. 

H.B. 2478 provides that Article 1.24D applies to the underwriting
guidelines of any insurance company, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange,
mutual, county mutual, association, Lloyd's plan, or other insurer in this
state. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Article 1.24D, Insurance Code, by adding Subsection (e),
to provide that this article (Confidentiality of Underwriting Guidelines)
applies to the underwriting guidelines of any insurance company, reciprocal
or interinsurance exchange, mutual, county mutual, association, Lloyd's
plan, or other insurer in this state. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.