Bill Text: TX SB852 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to availability of certain property and casualty insurance forms.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-05-18 - Effective on 9/1/13 [SB852 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-SB852-Enrolled.html
S.B. No. 852 |
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relating to availability of certain property and casualty insurance | ||
forms. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 10, Insurance Code, is amended | ||
by adding Chapter 1812 to read as follows: | ||
CHAPTER 1812. AVAILABILITY OF SPECIMEN POLICIES | ||
Sec. 1812.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "specimen | ||
policy" means a standardized form, including an insurance policy | ||
form or endorsement, used by an insurer to write personal | ||
automobile, commercial automobile, inland marine, or residential | ||
property insurance in this state that does not contain personally | ||
identifiable information about an insured. | ||
Sec. 1812.002. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN FORMS. | ||
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code relating to | ||
the delivery of policy forms, an insurer may elect to make a | ||
personal automobile, commercial automobile, inland marine, or | ||
residential property insurance policy available to an insured by | ||
posting a specimen policy on the insurer's Internet website instead | ||
of other authorized means. An insurer making the election must | ||
comply with Section 1812.003. | ||
(b) On request of and at no cost to an insured, an insurer | ||
shall provide to the insured a copy of a specimen policy applicable | ||
to the insured that is posted on the insurer's Internet website. | ||
Sec. 1812.003. NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN FORMS. | ||
(a) An insurer that posts a specimen policy on the insurer's | ||
Internet website under this chapter must, on issuance or renewal of | ||
a policy incorporating the specimen policy: | ||
(1) on the declarations page of the insured's policy: | ||
(A) disclose that the specimen policy is | ||
available on the insurer's Internet website; and | ||
(B) clearly identify each posted specimen policy | ||
incorporated into the insured's policy; | ||
(2) explain that and how an insured, on request and at | ||
no charge, may obtain a copy of the specimen policy from the | ||
insurer; and | ||
(3) provide to the department and the office of public | ||
insurance counsel an electronic copy of the specimen policy that | ||
may be posted on the Internet website of the department or the | ||
office of public insurance counsel. | ||
(b) An insurer that during an insured's policy period posts | ||
a specimen policy or amends a posted specimen policy incorporated | ||
into an insured's policy must, on the date the specimen policy is | ||
posted or amended, in writing and in the insurer's customary manner | ||
of communicating with the insured: | ||
(1) notify the insured that the specimen policy is | ||
available on the insurer's Internet website; | ||
(2) clearly identify each added or amended specimen | ||
policy incorporated into the insured's policy; and | ||
(3) explain that and how the insured, on request and at | ||
no charge, may obtain a copy of the specimen policy from the | ||
insurer. | ||
Sec. 1812.004. ACCESSIBILITY OF CERTAIN AVAILABLE FORMS. A | ||
specimen policy posted on the insurer's Internet website under this | ||
chapter must be, until no policy incorporating the specimen policy | ||
is in force: | ||
(1) easily accessible on the website; and | ||
(2) provided in a format readily capable of being | ||
saved or printed using a widely available and free computer | ||
application or program. | ||
Sec. 1812.005. RETENTION OF CERTAIN AVAILABLE FORMS. An | ||
insurer that posts a specimen policy on the insurer's Internet | ||
website under this chapter must for at least five years after the | ||
latest date a policy incorporating the specimen policy is in force: | ||
(1) preserve an electronic copy of the specimen | ||
policy; and | ||
(2) make a printed or electronic copy of the specimen | ||
policy available on request at no cost. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act applies only to an insurance policy that | ||
is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. A policy delivered, issued for | ||
delivery, or renewed before the effective date of this Act is | ||
governed by the law as it existed immediately before the effective | ||
date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that | ||
purpose. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 852 passed the Senate on | ||
March 27, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 852 passed the House on | ||
May 2, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, two present | ||
not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
Approved: | ||
______________________________ | ||
Date | ||
______________________________ | ||
Governor |