HBA-TBM H.B. 1342 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1342
By: Eiland
Insurance
2/23/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, the commissioner of insurance (commissioner) may issue
specialty licenses to businesses, rather than individual employees, that
provide point of sale insurance coverage, such as credit insurance, rental
car insurance, and travel insurance.  a vendor of telecommunications
equipment is not able to obtain such a license.  House Bill 1342 amends the
Insurance Code to authorize the commissioner to issue a specialty license
to a vendor of telecommunications equipment with respect to insurance that
provides coverage to customers for the loss of, malfunction of, or damage
to the telecommunications equipment.   

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the commissioner of insurance in
SECTION 1 (Article 21.09, Insurance Code) of this bill.   

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1342 amends the Insurance Code to authorize the commissioner of
insurance (commissioner) to adopt rules necessary to implement provisions
regarding a specialty license holder and to meet the minimum requirements
of federal law and regulations.  The bill authorizes the commissioner to
issue a specialty license to a retail vendor of telecommunications
equipment to act as an agent for any authorized insurer only in connection
with the sale and use of telecommunications equipment under specified
conditions.  The bill prohibits insurance from being issued unless
brochures or other written materials containing the required disclosures
pertaining to the insurance are prominently displayed and readily available
to the prospective purchaser of the insurance coverage.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.