Senate Bill 865 Summary

• Amends the Insurance Code to revise the Catastrophic Claims Association's structure, increasing the board from 5 to 6 directors with the director of the department serving as a voting member rather than ex officio non-voting member.

• Requires the board to conduct business at public meetings compliant with the Open Meetings Act and makes association writings subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act as if the board were a public body.

• Mandates annual independent certified public accountant audits of the association, delivered to the director of the department and relevant legislative committees, including assessment of the association's ability to meet its obligations.

• Revises terminology throughout from "commissioner" to "director of the department" and updates grammatical language (e.g., "shall" to "must," "hereby validated" to "valid").

• Takes effect only upon enactment of Senate Bill 864 of the 98th Legislature.