Amend Amendment No. 1 to SB 1001 (house committee printing) 
by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to the bill 
and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
	SECTION ____.  Section 501.153, Insurance Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
	Sec. 501.153.  AUTHORITY TO APPEAR, INTERVENE, OR INITIATE.  
The public counsel:
		(1)  may [appear or intervene], as a party or otherwise 
and [,] as a matter of right before the commissioner or department 
on behalf of insurance consumers[,] as a class, initiate 
proceedings concerning or appear or intervene in matters involving:
			(A)  rates, rules, and forms affecting:                                      
				(i)  property and casualty insurance;                                       
				(ii)  title insurance;                                                      
				(iii)  credit life insurance;                                               
				(iv)  credit accident and health insurance; 
or                            
				(v)  any other line of insurance for which 
the commissioner or department promulgates, sets, adopts, or 
approves rates, rules, or forms;
			(B)  rules affecting life, health, or accident 
insurance; or               
			(C)  withdrawal of approval of policy forms:                                 
				(i)  in proceedings initiated by the 
department under Sections 1701.055 and 1701.057; or
				(ii)  if the public counsel presents 
persuasive evidence to the department that the forms do not comply 
with this code, a rule adopted under this code, or any other law;
		(2)  may initiate or intervene as a matter of right or 
otherwise appear in a judicial proceeding involving or arising from 
an action taken by an administrative agency in a proceeding in which 
the public counsel previously appeared under the authority granted 
by this chapter;
		(3)  may appear or intervene, as a party or otherwise, 
as a matter of right on behalf of insurance consumers as a class in 
any proceeding in which the public counsel determines that 
insurance consumers are in need of representation, except that the 
public counsel may not intervene in an enforcement or parens 
patriae proceeding brought by the attorney general; and
		(4)  may appear or intervene before the commissioner or 
department as a party or otherwise on behalf of small commercial 
insurance consumers, as a class, in a matter involving rates, 
rules, or forms affecting commercial insurance consumers, as a 
class, in any proceeding in which the public counsel determines 
that small commercial consumers are in need of representation.
	SECTION ____.  Section 2251.106, Insurance Code, is amended 
by amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) to read as follows:
	(a)  [On request to the commissioner, the] The public 
insurance counsel shall [may] review all rate filings and 
additional information provided by an insurer under this 
chapter.  Confidential information reviewed under this subsection 
remains confidential.
	(b)  The public insurance counsel, not later than the 30th 
day after the date of a rate filing under this chapter, shall, if 
the office determines that the filing does not comply with the 
requirements of this chapter:
		(1)  [may] file with the commissioner a written 
objection to:
			(A) [(1)]  an insurer's rate filing; or              
			(B) [(2)]  the criteria on which the insurer 
relied to determine the rate; or
		(2)  request a rate hearing with the commissioner.                     
	(c)  A written objection filed under Subsection (b)(1) [(b)] 
must contain the reasons for the objection.