The 87th Legislature passed Senate Bill 1367, which made changes to certain lines of insurance. The changes are effective for an insurance policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after September 1, 2021.
Rate and form filings
SB 1367 eliminates rate and form filing requirements for certain lines of commercial insurance. These exempt lines are listed at the end of the bulletin.
If exempt lines are combined with non-exempt lines, the rates and forms must be filed. All other statutes and rules continue to apply to exempt lines of insurance, including cancellation and nonrenewal requirements.
Large risks
Insurers are no longer required to submit rate filings for certain large risks. This mirrors the existing exemption for form filings for large risks in Insurance Code Section 2301.004.
Diligent-effort requirements
For the exempted lines, SB 1367 waives the diligent-effort requirements under Insurance Code Section 981.004(a) for placing surplus lines insurance.
Filing exemptions
SB 1367 exempts these commercial lines of insurance from rate and form filings:
(1) surety bonds;
(2) fidelity bonds;
(3) commercial inland marine;
(4) boiler and machinery;
(5) environmental impairment or pollution liability;
(6) kidnap and ransom;
(7) political risk or expropriation;
(8) commercial excess liability or umbrella liability;
(9) directors' and officers' liability;
(10) fiduciary liability;
(11) employment practices liability;
(12) errors and omission and professional liability other than medical professional liability;
(13) media liability;
(14) product liability, product recall, or completed operations;
(15) commercial cybersecurity, including first- and third-party commercial lines coverage for losses arising out of or relating to data privacy breaches, network security, computer viruses, and similar exposures;
(16) highly protected commercial property;
(17) commercial flood insurance not provided through the National Flood Insurance Program; or
(18) any combination of the kinds of insurance listed above.
For questions about this bulletin, contact the Property and Casualty Division at 512-676-6710 or propertycasualty@tdi.texas.gov.