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.