By: Wentworth S.B. No. 918
(Thompson)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to immunity for reporting insurance fraud.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 701.052, Insurance Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) A person is not liable in a civil action, including an
action for libel or slander, and a civil action may not be brought
against the person, for furnishing information relating to a
suspected, anticipated, or completed fraudulent insurance act if
the information is provided to:
(1) an authorized governmental agency or the
department;
(2) a law enforcement officer or an agent or employee
of the officer;
(3) the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners or an employee of the association;
(4) a state or federal governmental agency established
to detect and prevent fraudulent insurance acts or to regulate the
business of insurance or an employee of the agency; [or]
(5) a special investigative unit of an insurer,
including a person who contracts to provide special investigative
unit services to the insurer or an employee of the insurer who is
responsible for the investigation of suspected fraudulent
insurance acts; or
(6) an organization described by Section 701.051(c),
if the person is a member of the organization and:
(A) the person has reported the information as
required by Section 701.051(a); or
(B) the organization has reported the
information to the insurance fraud unit as required by Section
701.051(c) on behalf of the person and in a manner that fully
complies with the person's obligations under Section 701.051(a).
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to the furnishing of information described by Subsection (a),
Section 701.052, Insurance Code, as amended by this Act, on or after
the effective date of this Act. The furnishing of information
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect 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, 2011.