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.
2-25 * * * * *