1-1     By:  Ellis                                             S.B. No. 323
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 29, 1999; February 2, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Economic Development;
 1-4     April 9, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 9, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the types of insurance covered by the program to assist
 1-9     persons in obtaining residential property insurance in underserved
1-10     areas.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 1, Article 21.49-12,
1-13     Insurance Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-14           (a)  The commissioner shall establish a voluntary mechanism
1-15     to be called a market assistance program to assist insureds in
1-16     Texas in obtaining residential property insurance coverage in
1-17     underserved areas, which shall be determined and designated by the
1-18     commissioner by rule using the standards specified in Section 1,
1-19     Article 5.35-3, of this code. For purposes of this article,
1-20     residential property insurance means insurance against loss to real
1-21     or tangible personal property at a fixed location provided in a
1-22     homeowners policy or a[,] residential fire and allied lines policy,
1-23     but does not include a [or] farm and ranch owners policy.  The
1-24     types of risks to be assisted under the market assistance program
1-25     will be established by the commissioner.  A market assistance
1-26     program division shall be established in and operated by the Texas
1-27     Department of Insurance.
1-28           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-29           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-30     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-31     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-32     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-33     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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