HBA-TBM C.S.H.B. 3079 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3079 By: Smithee Insurance 4/9/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, insurance companies receive tax rebates for examination expenses incurred out of state, paid to another state, or paid in a different taxable year. The comptroller of public accounts recommends changes to certain provisions of the Insurance Code relating to taxes, fees, and assessments of insurance carriers to simplify and clarify these provisions and codify state policies. C.S.H.B. 3079 amends provisions relating to taxes, fees, and assessments paid by insurance companies. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 3079 amends the Insurance Code to provide that the amount of assessments to be paid by any insurance corporation or association and all examination and evaluation or valuation fees to be paid by an insurance carrier or a title insurance company in each taxable year to or for the use of the State of Texas is required to be allowed as a credit on the amount of premium taxes to be paid except that a credit or offset is prohibited from being allowed on: _examination expenses incurred by representatives of the department that are directly attributable to an examination of the books, records, accounts, or principal offices of a domestic insurance company located outside this state; _examination expenses or fees paid to a state other than this state; or _examination expenses paid in a different taxable year (Art. 1.16; Art. 4.10, Sec. 13; Art. 4.11, Sec. 8; and Art. 9.59, Sec. 7). The bill prohibits a rate of assessment of a maintenance tax on inland marine or home warranty insurance coverage from exceeding one and one-fourth percent of the correctly reported gross premiums (Art. 5.49). The bill subjects county mutual insurance companies to an assessment for the office of public insurance counsel (Art. 17.22). C.S.H.B. 3079 requires the agent of an unauthorized insurer to pay to the comptroller of public accounts a premium receipts tax of 4.85 percent of gross premiums charged for insurance on a subject resident, located, or to be performed in this state (Sec. 101.251). The bill amends the Tax Code to require the comptroller rather than the State Board of Insurance to keep detailed records of protest payments relating to the taxes collected by the comptroller imposed by the Insurance Code or other insurance laws of this state (Sec. 112.058). The bill repeals provisions in the Insurance Code regarding a reciprocal or interinsurance exchange and the tax options of a reciprocal exchange (SECTION 9). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 3079 differs from the original by requiring the Texas Department of Insurance rather than the State Board of Insurance to make assessments (Art. 1.16). The substitute repeals provisions relating to a reciprocal or interinsurance exchange (SECTION 9). The substitute changes the effective date from January 1, 2002, to September 1, 2001 (SECTION 10).