1-1     By:  Lewis of Tarrant (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister)   H.B. No. 2941
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
 1-3     April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Economic Development; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to certain home protection insurance.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Article 5.53-A, Insurance Code, is amended to
1-11     read as follows:
1-12           Art. 5.53-A.  HOME WARRANTY INSURANCE; HOME PROTECTION
1-13     INSURANCE
1-14           Sec. 1.  INSURANCE COVERAGE; LIMITATIONS.  (a) Any company
1-15     licensed to engage in the business of fire insurance and its allied
1-16     lines, or  marine insurance, or both, is authorized to write home
1-17     warranty insurance or home protection insurance in this state
1-18     [Texas].
1-19           (b)  Insurance subject to this article [Home warranty
1-20     insurance] is not inland marine insurance, but shall be governed in
1-21     the same manner  and to the same extent as inland marine insurance.
1-22           (c)  The amount of coverage under a policy of home protection
1-23     insurance may not exceed $2,000 for any single occurrence.
1-24           Sec. 2.  DEFINITIONS.  In [As used in] this article:
1-25                 (1)  "Home [Code, the term "home] warranty insurance"
1-26     means coverage insuring:
1-27                       (A)  [insurance assuring either (1)] performance
1-28     by builders of residential property of their warranty obligations
1-29     to purchasers of such property; or
1-30                       (B) [(2)]  against named defects arising from
1-31     failure of the builder to construct residential property in
1-32     accordance with specified  construction standards.
1-33                 (2)  "Home protection insurance" means coverage
1-34     insuring purchasers of home protection services or products against
1-35     actual  property loss.
1-36                 (3)  "Home protection service or product" means a
1-37     service or  product used for the protection of residential
1-38     property, including a service or product provided by a person
1-39     regulated under the Private Investigators and Private Security
1-40     Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
1-41           SECTION 2.  Article 5.53-A, Insurance Code, as amended by
1-42     this Act, applies only to an insurance policy delivered, issued for
1-43     delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2000.  A policy
1-44     delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed before January 1, 2000,
1-45     is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
1-46     effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
1-47     that purpose.
1-48           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-49           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-50     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-51     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-52     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-53     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-54                                  * * * * *