Sec. 4151.002. EXEMPTIONS. A person is not an administrator if the person is:

(1) an employer, other than a certified workers' compensation self-insurer, administering an employee benefit plan or the plan of an affiliated employer under common management and control;

(2) a union administering a benefit plan on behalf of its members;

(3) an insurer or a group hospital service corporation subject to Chapter 842 acting with respect to a policy lawfully issued and delivered by the insurer or corporation in and under the law of a state in which the insurer or corporation was authorized to engage in the business of insurance;

(4) a health maintenance organization that is authorized to operate in this state under Chapter 843 with respect to any activity that is specifically regulated under that chapter, Chapter 1271, 1272, or 1367, Subchapter A, Chapter 1452, or Subchapter B, Chapter 1507;

(5) an agent licensed under Subchapter B, Chapter 4051, Subchapter B, Chapter 4053, or Subchapter B, Chapter 4054, who receives commissions as an agent and is acting:

(A) under appointment on behalf of an insurer authorized to engage in the business of insurance in this state; and

(B) in the customary scope and duties of the person's authority as an agent;

(6) a creditor acting on behalf of its debtor with respect to insurance that covers a debt between the creditor and its debtor, if the creditor performs only the functions of a group policyholder or a creditor;

(7) a trust established in conformity with 29 U.S.C. Section 186 or a trustee or employee who is acting under the trust;

(8) a trust that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or a trustee or employee acting under the trust;

(9) a custodian or a custodian's agent or employee who is acting under a custodian account that complies with Section 401(f), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;

(10) a bank, credit union, savings and loan association, or other financial institution that is subject to supervision or examination under federal or state law by a federal or state regulatory authority, if the institution is performing only those functions for which the institution holds a license under federal or state law;

(11) a company that advances and collects a premium or charge from its credit card holders on their authorization, if the company does not adjust or settle claims and acts only in the company's debtor-creditor relationship with its credit card holders;

(12) a person who adjusts or settles claims in the normal course of the person's practice or employment as a licensed attorney and who does not collect any premium or charge in connection with annuities or with life, health, accident, pharmacy, or workers' compensation benefits;

(13) an adjuster licensed under Subtitle C by the department who is engaged in the performance of the individual's powers and duties as an adjuster in the scope of the individual's license;

(14) a person who provides technical, advisory, utilization review, precertification, or consulting services to an insurer, plan, or plan sponsor but does not make any management or discretionary decisions on behalf of the insurer, plan, or plan sponsor;

(15) an attorney in fact for a Lloyd's plan operating under Chapter 941 or for a reciprocal or interinsurance exchange operating under Chapter 942 who is acting in the capacity of attorney in fact under the applicable chapter;

(16) a joint fund, risk management pool, or self-insurance pool composed of political subdivisions of this state that participate in a fund or pool through interlocal agreements, any nonprofit administrative agency or governing body or other nonprofit entity that acts solely on behalf of a fund, pool, agency, or body, or any other fund, pool, agency, or body established under or for the purpose of implementing an interlocal governmental agreement;

(17) a self-insured political subdivision;

(18) a plan under which insurance benefits are provided exclusively by an insurer authorized to engage in the business of insurance in this state and the administrator of which is:

(A) a full-time employee of the plan's organizing or sponsoring association, trust, or other entity; or

(B) a trustee of the organizing or sponsoring trust;

(19) a parent of a wholly owned direct or indirect subsidiary insurer authorized to engage in the business of insurance in this state or a wholly owned direct or indirect subsidiary insurer that is a part of the parent's holding company system that, under an agreement regulated and approved under Chapter 823 or a similar statute of the domiciliary state if the parent or subsidiary insurer is a foreign insurer engaged in business in this state, on behalf of only itself or an affiliated insurer:

(A) collects premiums or contributions, if the parent or subsidiary insurer:

(i) prepares only billing statements and places those statements in the United States mail; and

(ii) causes all collected premiums to be deposited directly in a depository account of the particular affiliated insurer; or

(B) furnishes proof-of-loss forms, reviews claims, determines the amount of the liability for those claims, and negotiates settlements, if the parent or subsidiary insurer pays claims only from the funds of the particular subsidiary by checks or drafts of that subsidiary; or

(20) an affiliate, as described by Chapter 823.003, of a self-insurer certified under Chapter 407, Labor Code, and who:

(A) is performing the acts of an administrator on behalf of that certified self-insurer; and

(B) directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that certified self-insurer, as the term "control" is described by Section 823.005.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1274, Sec. 7, eff. April 1, 2005.

Amended by:

Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 728 (H.B. 2018), Sec. 11.074(j), eff. September 1, 2005.

Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1176 (H.B. 472), Sec. 1.02, eff. September 1, 2007.