Amend CSSB 14, committee printing, as follows:
On page 13, strike lines 13-22 through page 14, line 14-53,
and substitute the following:
ARTICLE 5. REGULATION OF UNDERWRITING GUIDELINES
SECTION 5.01. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Insurance Code, is
amended by amending Section 38.002 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.002. UNDERWRITING GUIDELINES
[; CONFIDENTIALITY]. (a) In this section, "underwriting
guideline" means a rule, standard, guideline, or practice, whether
written, oral, or electronic, that is used by an insurer or its
agent to decide whether to accept or reject an application for
coverage or to determine how to classify those risks that are
accepted for the purposes of determining a rate.
(b) Each insurer shall file a copy of the insurer's
underwriting guidelines with the [The] department [or the office of
public insurance counsel may obtain a copy of an insurer's
underwriting guidelines]. The insurer shall update its filing each
time the underwriting guidelines are changed.
(c)[b)] Underwriting guidelines, as of the date the filing
is received by the department:
(1) are public information;
(2) are not subject to any exceptions to disclosure
under Chapter 552, Texas Government Code; and
(3) cannot be withheld from disclosure under any
other law. [are confidential, and the department or the office of
public insurance counsel may not make the guidelines available to
the public.]
[(c) The department or the office of public insurance
counsel may disclose to the public a summary of an insurer's
underwriting guidelines in a manner that does not directly or
indirectly identify the insurer.
[(d) When underwriting guidelines are furnished to the
department or the office of public insurance counsel, only a person
within the department or the office of public insurance counsel
with a need to know may have access to the guidelines. The
department and the office of public insurance counsel shall
establish internal control systems to limit access to the
guidelines and shall keep records of the access provided.
[(e) This section does not preclude the use of underwriting
guidelines as evidence in prosecuting a violation of this code.
Each copy of an insurer's underwriting guidelines that is used in
prosecuting a violation is presumed to be confidential and is
subject to a protective order until all appeals of the case have
been exhausted. If an insurer is found, after the exhaustion of all
appeals, to have violated this code, a copy of the underwriting
guidelines used as evidence of the violation is no longer presumed
to be confidential.
[(f) a violation of this section is a violation of Chapter
552, Government Code.]
SECTION 5.02. Section 552.110 Government Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) An insurance underwriting guideline is not a trade
secret for purposes of this section.