1-1     By:  Sibley                                            S.B. No. 333
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 1, 1999; February 3, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Economic Development;
 1-4     February 18, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0;
 1-6     February 18, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 333                   By:  Sibley
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the treatment of certain annuities as charitable gift
1-11     annuities and the application of the Insurance Code and certain
1-12     other laws to charitable gift annuities.
1-13           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14           SECTION 1.  Section 2, Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code, is
1-15     amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-16           (c)  Any person or entity involved in the issuance of a
1-17     qualified charitable gift annuity shall have immunity from suit,
1-18     including both a defense to liability and the right not to bear the
1-19     cost, burden, and risk of discovery and trial, as to any claim
1-20     brought by or on behalf of the donor or the donor's heirs or
1-21     distributees alleging that the issuance of a charitable gift
1-22     annuity constitutes engaging in the business of insurance in this
1-23     state.
1-24           SECTION 2.  Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code, is amended by
1-25     adding Section 7 to read as follows:
1-26           Sec. 7.  TREATMENT OF ANNUITY AS CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITY;
1-27     ESTOPPEL.  In any litigation or other proceeding brought by or on
1-28     behalf of a donor or the donor's heirs or distributees, an annuity
1-29     that the donor has treated as a charitable gift annuity in a filing
1-30     with the United States Internal Revenue Service shall be considered
1-31     to be a charitable gift annuity issued by a charitable
1-32     organization, as described by Sections 1, 2, and 6 of this article
1-33     and Section 2(b), Article 1.14-1 of this code.
1-34           SECTION 3.  Subsection (a), Section 51.014, Civil Practice
1-35     and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-36           (a)  A person may appeal from an interlocutory order of a
1-37     district court, county court at law, or county court that:
1-38                 (1)  appoints a receiver or trustee;
1-39                 (2)  overrules a motion to vacate an order that
1-40     appoints a receiver or trustee;
1-41                 (3)  certifies or refuses to certify a class in a suit
1-42     brought under Rule 42 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure;
1-43                 (4)  grants or refuses a temporary injunction or grants
1-44     or overrules a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction as
1-45     provided by Chapter 65;
1-46                 (5)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based
1-47     on an assertion of immunity by an individual who is an officer or
1-48     employee of the state or a political subdivision of the state;
1-49                 (6)  denies or otherwise fails to grant a motion for
1-50     summary judgment that is based on an assertion of immunity arising
1-51     under Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code, for the issuance of an
1-52     annuity described by that article;
1-53                 (7)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based
1-54     in whole or in part upon a claim against or defense by a member of
1-55     the electronic or print media, acting in such capacity, or a person
1-56     whose communication appears in or is published by the electronic or
1-57     print media, arising under the free speech or free press clause of
1-58     the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or Article
1-59     1, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution, or Chapter 73;
1-60                 (8) [(7)]  grants or denies the special appearance of a
1-61     defendant under Rule 120a, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, except
1-62     in a suit brought under the Family Code; or
1-63                 (9) [(8)]  grants or denies a plea to the jurisdiction
1-64     by a governmental unit as that term is defined in Section 101.001.
 2-1           SECTION 4.  (a)  Sections 1, 2, 6, and 7, Article 1.14-1A,
 2-2     Insurance Code, Section 2(b), Article 1.14-1, Insurance Code, and
 2-3     Section 51.014(a)(6), Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as those
 2-4     sections exist on the effective date of this Act, apply to any
 2-5     charitable gift annuity issued before, on, or after the effective
 2-6     date of this Act, including any charitable gift annuity that is the
 2-7     subject of litigation or another proceeding that is pending before,
 2-8     on, or after the effective date of this Act.
 2-9           (b)  This section applies without regard to the effective
2-10     date of the legislation enacting Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code,
2-11     or any other legislation enacted by any legislature that amended
2-12     the provisions of Article 1.14-1A, Insurance Code.
2-13           SECTION 5.  This Act applies to any charitable gift annuity
2-14     issued before, on, or after the effective date of this Act,
2-15     including any charitable gift annuity that is the subject of
2-16     litigation or another proceeding that is pending before, on, or
2-17     after the effective date of this Act.
2-18           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-23     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-24     passage, and it is so enacted.
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