By Puente                                             H.B. No. 3501
         76R7858 PB-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requirements for insurers when an insurance claim is
 1-3     filed.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 2, Article 21.55, Insurance Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 2.  NOTICE OF CLAIM; INSURER REQUIREMENTS.  (a)  Each
 1-8     [Except as provided by Subsection (d) of this section, an] insurer
 1-9     shall,  not later than the 15th day after receipt of notice of a
1-10     claim or the 30th business day if the insurer is an eligible
1-11     surplus lines insurer:
1-12                 (1)  acknowledge receipt of the claim;
1-13                 (2)  mail to the claimant a complete copy of the
1-14     applicable insurance policy;
1-15                 (3)  commence any investigation of the claim; and
1-16                 (4) [(3)]  request from the claimant all items,
1-17     statements, and forms that the insurer reasonably believes, at that
1-18     time, will be required from the claimant.
1-19           (b)  The insurer may make additional [Additional] requests
1-20     for information from the claimant [may be made] if, during the
1-21     investigation of the claim, the insurer determines that the [such]
1-22     additional requests are necessary.
1-23           (c) [(b)]  If the acknowledgment of the claim is not made in
1-24     writing, the insurer shall make a record of the date, means, and
 2-1     content of the acknowledgment.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-3     applies only to a claim made under an insurance policy that is
 2-4     filed with an insurer on or after that date.  A claim filed before
 2-5     that date is governed by the law in effect on the date that the
 2-6     claim was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
 2-7     purpose.
 2-8           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.