By Burnam                                              H.B. No. 203
         76R729 DB-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to cancellation of certain insurance policies.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 4, Article 21.49-2B, Insurance Code, is
 1-5     amended by amending Subsection (i) and adding Subsection (j) to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (i)  Except as provided by Subsection (j) of this section, an
 1-8     [An] insurer may cancel a personal automobile insurance policy or a
 1-9     homeowner's or farm or ranch owner's policy if the policy [it] has
1-10     been in effect for 30 days or less [than 60 days].  An insurer may
1-11     cancel any other policy if it has been in effect less than 90 days.
1-12           (j)  An insurer may not cancel a personal automobile policy
1-13     or a homeowner's or farm or ranch  owner's policy during the first
1-14     30 days that the policy is in effect based on:
1-15                 (1)  a claim brought under the policy that arose on or
1-16     after the first day that the policy was in effect; or
1-17                 (2)  an accident or other incident that occurred on or
1-18     after the first day that the policy was in effect, regardless of
1-19     whether the policyholder files a claim under the policy, unless,
1-20     for a personal automobile policy, the operator of the motor vehicle
1-21     involved in the accident or incident is insured under the policy
1-22     and is charged under Section 49.03, 49.04, 49.07, or 49.08, Penal
1-23     Code, in connection with the accident or incident.
1-24           SECTION 2.  Article 21.49-2B, Insurance Code, as amended by
 2-1     this Act, applies only to an insurance policy that is delivered,
 2-2     issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2000.  A
 2-3     policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed before
 2-4     January 1, 2000, is governed by the law as it existed immediately
 2-5     before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
 2-6     effect for that purpose.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.