February 4, 2003

Mindy Carr
Director of Government Affairs

COMMITTEE AND TASK FORCE
BOARD ACTIONS

The Rates, Rules and Forms Committee, Chaired by Terry Grantham,  recommended positions to the Board on 55 agenda items filed by admitted parties to the 2002 Biennial Rate and Rule Hearing. Please click on the following link to view the Board’s positions and filed agenda items.

• RULE HEARING ITEMS:  Click here
  
• RATE HEARING ITEMS:  Click here

The Board of Directors approved the P-24 Task Force proposal for a revised rule and accompanying form and asked that it be submitted to TDI for consideration. President Jack Rattikin III reported on this issue in his January President's Message. To view the proposal, please click here. The P-24 Task Force was chaired by Jim Johnson.

The Market Incentives Task Force was formed to review current regulations regarding rebates and discounts as outlined in Article 9.30 of the Insurance Code. Under the direction of Chairman John Rothermel, the task force spent the last 6 months researching rebating laws and practices in other states, reviewing previous TLTA proposals, reviewing TDI bulletins and studying current RESPA investigations under HUD. Early on, there was consensus from the task force the rule needed to include specific prohibited activities and penalties. The task force drafted a rule, and in the meantime the Texas Department of Insurance filed its own rebate rule as an agenda item to the 2002 Rate and Rule Hearing. Due to the fact that industry consensus was reached on the TLTA rebate rule proposal, the Market Incentives Task Force recommended to the TLTA Board that we ask TDI to substitute our rebate rule proposal for their version. The TLTA Board adopted this recommendation. A number of TLTA members have expressed to us that this issue is very important and should be addressed as soon as possible. Therefore, legal counsel is talking to TDI and urging them to hold a separate hearing sometime this spring.

The Rate Formula Task Force, chaired by Bruce Boyer, was formed to study the concept of a rate formula for use in recommending future title insurance premium rates. A conference call was held with Nelson Lipshutz to discuss all the possible solutions to address this issue. After much discussion, the Task Force recommended to the Board they should support a statutory method of addressing the premium split in the 2005 Legislation Session. This will give the task force more time to study this issue. The Board recommended that the task force be reappointed in order to continue this effort.

WASHINGTON  WATCH
RESPA Reform Update
No word yet from HUD. Again, thanks to all of you who continue to contact your Congressmen and U.S. Senators about your concerns regarding the proposed RESPA changes by HUD. We are still working on a Texas Delegation Letter and I appreciate hearing any feedback you receive on this issue. We are also working on a trip to Washington D.C. to visit with our Congressman on the Hill. If you are interested in going to D.C. to help us lobby this issue, please contact Mindy Carr. The latest issue of ALTA's Title News has a great article by ALTA attorney Sheldon Hochberg on HUD's proposed RESPA reform. Click the link below to read this article: http://www.alta.org/store/ttlenews/index.htm

Alternative Title Products
The National Association of Insurance Commissioner's Title Insurance Working Group has focused its attention on alternative title products for the upcoming year. Although Radian has been rejected by a several state Department of Insurances (DOI), there's still many alternative products on the market. ALTA is continuing its quest to educate DOI and the public about Radian's RLP product but they also want to shed light on lesser-known products such as mortgage guaranty, standard mortgage impairment and errors and omissions policies. ALTA is also encouraging NAIC's working group to solicit information in the form of a survey from all departments of insurance on what alternative products are being filed or rejected. Currently, NAIC is considering sending a questionnaire to lenders to see what they think of various alternative products.   Go to top of next column

 REGISTER NOW FOR THE 1ST TLTA DAY AT THE CAPITOL

Quit procrastinating! Click here to register for the 1st Annual TLTA Day at the Capitol on February 19! This is a great opportunity for you to visit with your legislators and educate them about the title insurance industry. With insurance reform on the table, it is critical that we stay involved in the process. Get the inside scoop from our guest lunch speaker, Senator Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) who has been in the legislature since 1988. Senator Wentworth authored the bill that amended the Public Information Act to ensure accessibility of public records. The TLTA Legislative Committee will meet on February 18th from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel prior to our Day At The Capitol. Make plans to attend the meeting and get a more in-depth look at the 2003 TLTA legislative agenda.

Look what's happening at the capitol.
It has been a very busy three weeks since the legislature convened. Both Governor Rick Perry and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst were officially sworn in and we have a new speaker of the house, Tom Craddick (R-Midland). Lt Governor Dewhurst did not waste any time getting settled, he already named his new committee chairs. Eight of the eighteen chairs are Democrats and all 7 in-coming freshman were given Vice-Chairmanships. The Speaker of the House also named committees last week - 29 Republicans and 13 Democrats will chair House committees. He also gave prime committee spots to in-coming freshman. Governor Perry designated insurance reform an emergency issue therefore, allowing state lawmakers to begin work on this issue within the session's first 60 days. As an example of how fast things are moving already, the Senate Business and Commerce Committee had its first meeting on SB 310 by Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) and SB 14 by Sen. Mike Jackson (R-La Porte). SB 310 which would require insurers to show regulators the data they use to set rates was voted out of committee and will head to the Senate floor next week. At publication deadline there have been over 1000 bills filed in the Senate and House. Check out the TLTA Website in the next few weeks for a new look and regular updates to the legislative/regulatory section.

Click here for the Texas Legislature Online Web site.