HBA-MPA, MAJ H.B. 542 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 542 By: Brimer Business & Industry 2/11/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, all sitting board members of the Texas Workers' Compensation Fund must be policyholders of the fund. Since 1994, the policyholder base of the fund has decreased nearly 50 percent, making it increasingly difficult to locate and recruit board members. H.B. 542 repeals the requirement that board members be policyholders. This will provide the fund the option of recruiting board members from outside its policyholder base, if necessary. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 3, Article 5.76-3, Insurance Code, by deleting the requirement that to be eligible for appointment as a member of the board of directors of the Texas Workers' Compensation Insurance Fund (board) a person must be a policyholder of the fund or an officer or employee of a policyholder and must maintain that status during the period of service on the board. Removes the provision that failure to maintain eligibility requirements disqualifies a board member and creates a vacancy on the board. Deletes the requirement that the initial appointees to the board must be employers in this state. Creates Subsection (b) from existing text. Deletes former text of Subsection (c). Redesignates existing Subsections (e) - (r) to Subsections (d) - (q). Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.