By: Pickett (Senate Sponsor - Eltife) H.B. No. 2491
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 27, 2015;
April 28, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on
Business and Commerce; May 7, 2015, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 7, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to licensing and appointment of title insurance escrow
officers; changing the limit applicable to a fee; authorizing a
fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 2652.001, 2652.002, and 2652.006,
Insurance Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2652.001. LICENSE AND BOND OR DEPOSIT REQUIRED. An
individual may not act as an escrow officer unless the individual:
(1) holds a license issued by the department; [and]
(2) is covered by [maintains] a surety bond or deposit
required under Subchapter C; and
(3) is appointed under Section 2652.1511 as an escrow
officer by a title insurance agent or direct operation.
Sec. 2652.002. EMPLOYMENT OF ESCROW OFFICER. (a) A title
insurance agent or direct operation may not employ an individual as
an escrow officer unless the individual:
(1) holds a license issued by the department;
(2) is covered by [and maintains] a surety bond or
deposit as required under Subchapter C; and
(3) is appointed under Section 2652.1511 as an escrow
officer by the title insurance agent or direct operation [by this
chapter].
(b) A title insurance agent or direct operation may not
permit an individual to act as an escrow officer in this state
before the agent or direct operation has complied with Sections
2652.151 and 2652.1511 [2652.152] with respect to the individual.
Sec. 2652.006. RECORD OF ESCROW OFFICERS; PUBLIC
INFORMATION. (a) The department shall maintain a record of [the
name and address of] each escrow officer licensed by the department
in a manner that ensures that the escrow officers employed and
appointed under Section 2652.1511 by any title insurance agent or
direct operation in this state may be conveniently determined.
(b) The department shall make available to the public from
the records maintained under Subsection (a) or from other records
of the department each escrow officer's name, license number,
continuing education compliance status, and appointment history.
SECTION 2. Section 2652.051(a), Insurance Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Before an initial license is issued to an individual to
act as an escrow officer in this state for a title insurance agent
or direct operation, the individual [title insurance agent or
direct operation] must file an application for an escrow officer's
license with the department on forms provided by the department and
the title insurance agent or direct operation must file an
appointment of the escrow officer under Section 2652.1511.
SECTION 3. Section 2652.052(b), Insurance Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) License [fees,] and renewal fees collected under this
chapter and appointment fees collected under Section 2652.1511
[Section 2652.152,] shall be deposited to the credit of the Texas
Department of Insurance operating account to be used by the
department to enforce this chapter and any other law of this state
that regulates escrow officers for title insurance agents or direct
operations.
SECTION 4. Sections 2652.055 and 2652.056, Insurance Code,
are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 2652.055. LICENSE TERM. Unless a system of staggered
license renewal is adopted or required under Chapter 4003 [under
Section 4003.002], a license expires on the second June 1 following
the date of issuance.
Sec. 2652.056. PROCEDURE FOR LICENSE RENEWAL. An
individual may renew an unexpired escrow officer license by:
(1) submitting to the department on a form provided by
the department a completed application, signed and sworn by the
individual, stating that the applicant is an individual who is a
bona fide resident of this state or a state adjacent to this state;
and
(2) paying to the department a renewal fee in an amount
set by the department [AUTOMATIC TERMINATION OF LICENSE. The
license of each escrow officer employed by a title insurance agent
or direct operation that surrenders its license or has its license
revoked by the department is automatically terminated without
notice].
SECTION 5. Section 2652.058, Insurance Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) Continuing education programs to satisfy the
requirements of this section must be certified under Subchapter C,
Chapter 4004. The department may enter into an agreement with an
independent contractor as authorized by Section 4004.104 to certify
and register the programs and providers of those programs.
SECTION 6. Section 2652.101(a), Insurance Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A title insurance agent or direct operation shall
obtain, at its own expense, a bond for its escrow officers appointed
under Section 2652.1511 payable to the department. The bond shall
obligate the principal and surety to pay for any pecuniary loss
sustained by the title insurance agent or direct operation through
an act of fraud, dishonesty, forgery, theft, embezzlement, or
wilful misapplication by an escrow officer, either directly and
alone or in conspiracy with another person.
SECTION 7. Section 2652.151(a), Insurance Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A title insurance agent or direct operation shall
certify to the department, not later than the expiration date of the
title insurance agent's or direct operation's license, the name and
address of each individual employed and appointed under Section
2652.1511 by the title insurance agent or direct operation to serve
as an escrow officer in this state.
SECTION 8. Subchapter D, Chapter 2652, Insurance Code, is
amended by adding Section 2652.1511 to read as follows:
Sec. 2652.1511. APPOINTMENT OF ESCROW OFFICER. (a) An
escrow officer may be employed and appointed by more than one title
insurance agent or direct operation.
(b) Before an escrow officer may act in that capacity for a
title insurance agent or direct operation, the title insurance
agent or direct operation must appoint the escrow officer and file
the escrow officer's appointment with the department on the
electronic or nonelectronic form provided by the department.
(c) The appointment form must:
(1) be accompanied by a nonrefundable appointment fee;
(2) certify that:
(A) the escrow officer is a bona fide employee of
the title insurance agent or direct operation making the
appointment; and
(B) the title insurance agent or direct operation
has an office in this state;
(3) be signed and sworn to by the title insurance agent
or direct operation and by the escrow officer; and
(4) acknowledge that the escrow officer is covered by
a surety bond or deposit required under Subchapter C.
(d) The appointment of the escrow officer expires on the
revocation, termination, or nonrenewal of the escrow officer's
license or termination of the escrow officer's employment with the
title insurance agent or direct operation that made the
appointment.
(e) Unless otherwise notified by the department, the escrow
officer may act as an escrow officer for the appointing title
insurance agent or direct operation after:
(1) the second business day after the date the
appointment is submitted to the department electronically; or
(2) the eighth business day after the date the
appointment is submitted to the department on a nonelectronic form.
SECTION 9. Section 2652.153, Insurance Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2652.153. NOTICE OF TERMINATION. A title insurance
agent or direct operation that terminates the employment of a
licensed escrow officer shall:
(1) immediately notify the department in writing of
the termination and request cancellation of the appointment under
Section 2652.1511 [license]; and
(2) notify the escrow officer of the action by the
title insurance agent or direct operation.
SECTION 10. Section 2652.203, Insurance Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to read
as follows:
(a) The department shall notify a license holder of a
disciplinary action or enforcement action against the license
holder not later than the 30th business day after the date the
department assigns a file number to the action, except that this
subsection does not apply to a file or action:
(1) that is the subject of a pending criminal
investigation or prosecution; or
(2) about which the [deputy commissioner of the title
division of the] department makes a good faith determination that
there is a credible suspicion that there are ongoing or continuing
acts of fraud by a person who is the subject of the action.
(d) The department may provide information about an
enforcement action, including a copy of a notice issued under this
section, to each title insurance agent or direct operation with
which an escrow officer has, or proposes to obtain, an appointment
under Section 2652.1511 [employment].
(e) Except as prohibited by Chapter 552, Government Code, or
any other law, on the date an enforcement action against an escrow
officer becomes final, the department shall provide information
about the action, including a copy of a commissioner's order or
department warning issued under this section, to each title
insurance agent or direct operation for which the escrow officer
holds appointment under Section 2652.1511.
SECTION 11. Sections 2652.057(b) and 2652.152, Insurance
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 12. The changes in law made by this Act apply only
to the issuance or renewal of the license of an escrow officer on or
after January 1, 2016. The issuance or renewal of a license before
January 1, 2016, 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 13. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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