Amend SB 1839 (house committee printing) in SECTION 5.09 of
the bill as follows:
      (1)  In added Subsection (a), Section 9, Article 21.49-3d,
Insurance Code, strike "maintenance tax surcharge" and substitute
"assessment" (page 17, line 6).
      (2)  Strike added Section 10, Article 21.49-3d, Insurance
Code, and substitute the following:
      Sec. 10.  ASSESSMENT. (a)  The commissioner shall impose an
assessment against:
            (1)  each insurer; and
            (2)  the association.
      (b)  The assessment shall be set in an amount sufficient to
pay all debt service on the bonds.  The assessment is set by the
commissioner and shall be collected as the commissioner specifies
by rule.
      (c)  It shall be the duty of each insurer to pay the amount
of an assessment under Subsection (b) of this section to the
association not later than the 30th day after the association gives
notice of the assessment.
      (d)  Assessments may be collected on behalf of the
association by the commissioner through suits brought for that
purpose. Venue for those suits is in Travis County. Either party to
the action may appeal to the appellate court having jurisdiction
over the cause, the appeal shall be at once returnable to the
appellate court having jurisdiction over the cause, and the action
so appealed shall have precedence in the appellate court over all
causes of a different character pending before the court. The
commissioner is not required to give an appeal bond in any cause
arising under this subsection.
      (e)  An insurer designated as an impaired insurer by the
commissioner is exempt from assessment from and after the date of
the designation and until the commissioner determines that the
insurer is no longer an impaired insurer.
      (f)  The association and each insurer may pass through the
assessment imposed under this section to each of its policyholders.
If the association or an insurer passes through the assessment to
its policyholders, the amount passed through to a policyholder must
appear on the policyholder's statement.
      (g)  As a condition of engaging in the business of insurance
in this state, an insurer agrees that if the company leaves the
market for liability insurance in this state the insurer remains
obligated to pay, until the bonds are retired, the insurer's share
of the assessment imposed under this section in an amount
proportionate to that insurer's share of the market for liability
insurance in this state as of the last complete reporting period
before the date on which the insurer ceases to engage in that
insurance business in this state.  The proportion of the assessment
imposed on the insurer shall be based on the insurer's gross
premiums for liability insurance for the insurer's last reporting
period.  However, an insurer is not required to pay the
proportionate amount in any year in which the amount of the
assessment imposed under this section on insurers continuing to
write liability insurance in this state is sufficient to service
the bond obligation.
      (h)  One hundred percent of any assessment paid by an insurer
under this section shall be allowed to that insurer as a credit
against its premium tax under this code. The tax credit referred to
in this section shall be allowed at a rate of 10 percent per year
for 10 successive years following the date of assessment and, at
the option of the insurer, may be taken over an additional number
of years. The balance of any tax credit not claimed in a particular
year may be reflected in the books and records of the insurer as an
admitted asset of the insurer for all purposes, including
exhibition in annual statements under Article 6.12 of this code.
      (i)  Available credit against premium tax allowed under
Subsection (h) of this section may be transferred or assigned among
or between insurers if:
            (1)  a merger, acquisition, or total assumption of
reinsurance among or between the insurers occurs; or
            (2)  the commissioner by order approves the transfer or
assignment.