By:  Sibley                                            S.B. No. 333
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the treatment of certain annuities as charitable gift
 1-2     annuities and the application of the Insurance Code and certain
 1-3     other laws to charitable gift annuities.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 2, Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
 1-7           (c)  Any person or entity involved in the issuance of a
 1-8     qualified charitable gift annuity shall have immunity from suit,
 1-9     including both a defense to liability and the right not to bear the
1-10     cost, burden, and risk of discovery and trial, as to any claim
1-11     brought by or on behalf of the donor or the donor's heirs or
1-12     distributees alleging that the issuance of a charitable gift
1-13     annuity constitutes engaging in the business of insurance in this
1-14     state.
1-15           SECTION 2.  Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code, is amended by
1-16     adding Section 7 to read as follows:
1-17           Sec. 7.  TREATMENT OF ANNUITY AS CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY;
1-18     ESTOPPEL.  In any litigation or other proceeding brought by or on
1-19     behalf of a donor or the donor's heirs or distributees, an annuity
1-20     that the donor has treated as a charitable gift annuity in a filing
1-21     with the United States Internal Revenue Service shall be considered
1-22     to be a charitable gift annuity issued by a charitable
1-23     organization, as described by Sections 1, 2, and 6 of this article
1-24     and Section 2(b), Article 1.14-1 of this code.
 2-1           SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 51.014, Civil Practice
 2-2     and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:
 2-3           (a)  A person may appeal from an interlocutory order of a
 2-4     district court, county court at law, or county court that:
 2-5                 (1)  appoints a receiver or trustee;
 2-6                 (2)  overrules a motion to vacate an order that
 2-7     appoints a receiver or trustee;
 2-8                 (3)  certifies or refuses to certify a class in a suit
 2-9     brought under Rule 42 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure;
2-10                 (4)  grants or refuses a temporary injunction or grants
2-11     or overrules a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction as
2-12     provided by Chapter 65;
2-13                 (5)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based
2-14     on an assertion of immunity by an individual who is an officer or
2-15     employee of the state or a political subdivision of the state;
2-16                 (6)  denies or otherwise fails to grant a motion for
2-17     summary judgment that is based on an assertion of immunity arising
2-18     under Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code, for the issuance of an
2-19     annuity described by that article;
2-20                 (7)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based
2-21     in whole or in part upon a claim against or defense by a member of
2-22     the electronic or print media, acting in such capacity, or a person
2-23     whose communication appears in or is published by the electronic or
2-24     print media, arising under the free speech or free press clause of
2-25     the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or Article
2-26     1, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution, or Chapter 73;
 3-1                 (8) [(7)]  grants or denies the special appearance of a
 3-2     defendant under Rule 120a, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, except
 3-3     in a suit brought under the Family Code; or
 3-4                 (9) [(8)]  grants or denies a plea to the jurisdiction
 3-5     by a governmental unit as that term is defined in Section 101.001.
 3-6           SECTION 4.  (a)  Sections 1, 2, 6, and 7, Article 1.14-1A,
 3-7     Insurance Code, Section 2(b), Article 1.14-1, Insurance Code, and
 3-8     Section 51.014(a)(6), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as those
 3-9     sections exist on the effective date of this Act, apply to any
3-10     charitable gift annuity issued before, on, or after the effective
3-11     date of this Act, including any charitable gift annuity that is the
3-12     subject of litigation or another proceeding that is pending before,
3-13     on, or after the effective date of this Act.
3-14           (b)  This section applies without regard to the effective
3-15     date of the legislation enacting Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code,
3-16     or any other legislation enacted by any legislature that amended
3-17     the provisions of Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code.
3-18           SECTION 5.  This Act applies to any charitable gift annuity
3-19     issued before, on, or after the effective date of this Act,
3-20     including any charitable gift annuity that is the subject of
3-21     litigation or another proceeding that is pending before, on, or
3-22     after the effective date of this Act.
3-23           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
3-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 4-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 4-2     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 4-3     passage, and it is so enacted.