Latest Texas Headlines

All the headlines from our Texas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Insurance Still on the Table at the 78th Texas Legislature

Mar 10 2003 // As promised, the 78th Texas Legislature is on a roll with insurance reform, with one bill having been signed into law and many more in committees or on their way to the House and Senate floors. Among the proposed...

TDI Seeks to Return $7 Million to Members Mutual Policyholders

Mar 7 2003 // The Texas Department of Insurance is searching for 33,000 Texans, each of whom has a $209.50 check coming as his or her piece of a small insurance company that failed in 1992. According to TDI about $7 million will be...

New Workers’ Comp Company Authorized in Texas

Mar 5 2003 // The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a Certificate of Authority for a new property-casualty insurance company to be located in Tyler, Texas, named Old Glory Insurance Company. The new company will operate as a...

Rate Rollback Bills in the Works at Texas Leg.

Mar 3 2003 // The Senate Committee on Business and Commerce announced it heard invited testimony on Senate Bill (SB) 400 which would require insurance companies to roll rates back to the levels that were in effect on January 1, 2001,...

Rep. McReynolds Reports on Texas Med Mal Reform

Mar 3 2003 // In State Representative Jim McReynolds’ latest “Capitol Report,” the legislator discussed three solutions to the problems of Texas medical malpractice system, the reform of which was declared one of the...

Montemayor Issues Order on Filing of Residential Rates

Feb 28 2003 // Texas Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor issued an order on Feb. 26, 2003 requiring residential property insurers to file with the Texas Department of Insurance rates and supporting information as required in Senate...

Dewhurst Says TX Homeowners Rates Are up to 18% Too High

Feb 27 2003 // Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst commented that homeowners insurance rates in Texas are running some 12 to 18 percent higher than they should be. According to the Houston Chronicle, Dewhurst made the remarks after Gov. Rick...

Perry Names Smith as TWCC Chairman

Feb 24 2003 // Governor Rick Perry appointed Employer Commissioner Richard Smith to serve as chairman of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission (TWCC). He replaces Employee Commissioner Rebecca Olivares, who served as chairman...

Time to Jump on the Employee Benefits Bandwagon’

Feb 24 2003 // In some respects, the world of employee benefits seems to be on a roll. The Indepen-dent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association (IIABA) reports that about 26 percent of the U.S. agencies examined in its “2002...

Texas Versus New Jersey

Feb 24 2003 // Is Texas the next New Jersey? That was one of the many questions posed about the state by Robert Hartwig, chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, at the 40th Annual Joe Vincent Management Seminar held by...

SODA DRIVER PLEADS GUILTY

Feb 24 2003 // Armando M. Villesca Sr. of Fort Stockton, Texas, pleaded guilty to charges of workers’ compensation fraud in a Travis County District Court. Texas Mutual Insurance Company said the court ordered Villesca to submit to...

COURT SAYS NO DOUBLE-DIPPING

Feb 24 2003 // The Amarillo Court of Appeals upheld a law preventing injured workers from collecting benefits for a work-related injury from two different sources. According to the Texas Mutual Insurance Company, the court ruled that a...

Time to Jump on the Employee Benefits Bandwagon’

Feb 24 2003 // In some respects, the world of employee benefits seems to be on a roll. The Indepen-dent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association (IIABA) reports that about 26 percent of the U.S. agencies examined in its “2002...

Med Mal Fever: When Doctors Walk Out, Politicians Notice

Feb 24 2003 // They’re baaack. High-flying medical malpractice liability claims losses, that is. The availability crisis of the 1970s and the affordability crisis of the 1980s may be nothing compared to the crisis insurers and...

Alliance Praises TX Bill Aimed at Stemming Asbestos Lawsuits

Feb 20 2003 // An asbestos litigation reform bill supported by the Alliance of American Insurers and a broad coalition of businesses and insurers has been introduced in the Texas Senate. The bill, SB 496, will “raise the bar for...

Rainbow International to Service Water Claims for Texas Select Lloyds

Feb 18 2003 // Rainbow International® Carpet Care and Restoration Specialist announced that through an agreement with Texas Select Lloyds Insurance Company it will become a preferred vendor for water remediation claims for Select...

Soda Delivery Driver Pleads Guilty to Workers’ Comp Fraud

Feb 14 2003 // Armando M. Villesca Sr. of Fort Stockton, Texas, pleaded guilty to charges of workers’ compensation insurance fraud. A Travis County District Court judge ordered Villesca to submit to three years of community...

First Insurance Bill Passes Texas Senate

Feb 13 2003 // The Texas Senate passed legislation that requires all insurers writing residential property insurance to make a one-time data report to the insurance commissioner for use in a report to the legislature on underwriting....

Superior Access Writing Texas Condos, Townhomes

Feb 10 2003 // Richard Swoy, chairman of Superior Access Insurance Services, announced a new A.M. Best “A” rated, admitted market in Texas for condominiums and townhouses. Owner occupied, seasonal or tenant occupied units are...

BOAT INSURER MUST PAY $1 MILLION

Feb 10 2003 // A judge in Austin ordered a London- and Canada-based organization to stop marketing boat and other watercraft insurance in Texas without a license and to pay a $1 million fine imposed last year by Commissioner Jose...