Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No | Negative | Neutral | Neutral | Negative | Neutral |
Relating to certain
practices in the business of personal automobile insurance based on certain
customer inquiries.
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
Chapter 544, subchapter L of the insurance code prohibits
insurers from making rate changes on a policy based on a consumer inquiry on
their policy. Additionally, chapter 551, subchapter C prohibits insurers from
cancelling or not renewing a policy based on a policyholder inquiring into a
claim or policy. SB 189 would include policies for automobile insurance and
policies written by county mutual insurance companies.
In the committee substitute of the legislation, a county
mutual insurance company is subject to additional regulations. Most of these regulations give the Texas
Department of Insurance (TDI) the authority to audit and examine county mutual
insurance companies.
Finally, SB 189 amends a law prohibiting certain rating
plans. Specifically, Section 1953.051(b) now prohibits insurers of automobile
insurance from making a rate change to a policy on the basis of a policy holder
filing a claim that is not covered by his or her policy.
The author of the bill hopes to regulate automobile
insurance and county mutual insurance companies that currently fall outside the
purview of the law that prohibits an insurer from raising fees on homeowners
because they asked questions about a claim or policy. The government should not
be in the business of the insurance industry. It is definitely not the job of
the government to stipulate how a private entity decides to run their business
or whether it is financially viable.
This bill broadens the parameters of existing statute to
move in the direction of greater regulations. This continues to perpetuate
infringement on the free market and grows government. For these reasons, we do not
support SB 189.
Insurance should operate on free market principles allowing
companies to compete for business by offering the best, most innovative plans
with the flexible options consumers want at the lowest cost possible on terms
people are willing to accept. Under such circumstances regulations could be
light, sensible, and minimally invasive for businesses and customers alike.