By Jones of Dallas                                    H.B. No. 2481
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2481:
         By Edwards                                        C.S.H.B. No. 2481
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to municipal regulations concerning insurance for
 1-3     taxicabs.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 215.004, Local Government Code, is
 1-6     amended by redesignating Subsection (c) as Subsection (f) and
 1-7     adding new Subsections (c)-(e) to read as follows:
 1-8           (c)  Insurance required by an ordinance adopted under
 1-9     Subsection (b) for a passenger taxicab transportation service must
1-10     be obtained from a reliable insurance company authorized to do
1-11     business in this state, unless an ordinance permits the service to
1-12     be self-insured in accordance with applicable state statutes.
1-13           (d)  A municipality may adopt an ordinance regarding the
1-14     rating and financial strength, including capital and surplus, of an
1-15     insurance company described by Subsection (c).  An insurance
1-16     company satisfies an ordinance adopted under this subsection if:
1-17                 (1)  the insurance company obtains 100% reinsurance for
1-18     the portion of each taxicab risk it insures; and
1-19                 (2)  the reinsurer is authorized to do business in this
1-20     state and complies with an ordinance adopted under this subsection
1-21     regarding the rating and financial strength of an insurance
1-22     company; providing that, the contract of reinsurance must
1-23     specifically provide that the reinsurance shall be payable directly
1-24     to a person injured by a passenger taxicab transportation service
 2-1     in the event of the insolvency of the insurance company.
 2-2           (e)  Subsection (c) and (d) apply only to a municipality with
 2-3     a population of more than one million located in a county with a
 2-4     population of more than 1.5 million.
 2-5           (f) [(c)]  In regulating passenger taxicab transportation
 2-6     services under this section, a municipality is performing a
 2-7     governmental function.  Except as limited by Subsection (c) and
 2-8     (d), a [A] municipality may carry out the provisions of this
 2-9     section to the extent the governing body of the municipality
2-10     considers it necessary or appropriate.
2-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.