BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 978

By: Creighton

Insurance

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that workers' compensation filings do not have the same protections under law as filings for property and casualty lines. S.B. 978 seeks to remedy this discrepancy by revising provisions relating to workers' compensation filings to provide the same confidentiality protections as are currently contained in provisions relating to property and casualty filings.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 978 amends the Insurance Code to subject each workers' compensation insurance rate filing made by an insurance company with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to state public information law, including any applicable exception from required disclosure under that law, and to remove the specification that such rate filings are open to public inspection as of the date the filing is made. The bill requires TDI to annually make available to the public information concerning TDI's general process and methodology for reviewing workers' compensation insurance rates. The bill requires the information provided by TDI to be general in nature and prohibits the information from revealing proprietary or trade secret information of any insurer.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2015.