2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB213
SB213 prohibits making home insurance conditional on buying personal auto insurance from the same or an affiliated insurer, and prohibits the reverse.
Official caption: Relating to prohibiting insurers from requiring the tying of residential property and personal automobile insurance policies.
Official report lists Senate author(s): West. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- SB213 prohibits making home insurance conditional on buying personal auto insurance from the same or an affiliated insurer, and prohibits the reverse.
- The law applies to authorized property-and-casualty insurers, expressly including county mutuals, Lloyd’s plans, reciprocal or interinsurance exchanges, farm mutuals, and fire or casualty companies.
- The prohibited tying is an unfair or deceptive insurance practice.
- The restriction concerns a required cross-purchase, not a ban on choosing to buy both policies.
What does it do?
SB213 prohibits making home insurance conditional on buying personal auto insurance from the same or an affiliated insurer, and prohibits the reverse. Signed June 20, 2025, it took effect September 1, 2025. It covers issuance, delivery and renewal, not just a first purchase. Official history; Final law.
The law applies to authorized property-and-casualty insurers, expressly including county mutuals, Lloyd’s plans, reciprocal or interinsurance exchanges, farm mutuals, and fire or casualty companies. It exempts policies issued, delivered or renewed by the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, flood policies under the National Flood Insurance Program, and personal umbrella policies. The final exclusions are not blanket exemptions for every privately sold windstorm or flood policy.
The prohibited tying is an unfair or deceptive insurance practice. But the final law expressly bars a private lawsuit against an insurer or its agent or representative for the practice described in this section, while preserving the attorney general’s authority under Chapter 541, Subchapters E and F. This is not a promise of a personal damages lawsuit or automatic compensation.
The restriction concerns a required cross-purchase, not a ban on choosing to buy both policies. It does not require insurers to offer everyone coverage or guarantee a particular premium or discount. TDI’s August 5, 2025 legislative bulletin likewise describes the law as prohibiting mandatory home-and-auto bundling. Official agency bulletin.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill broadly targeted required purchases of multiple personal-lines property or casualty policies. The Senate substitute narrowed the text to residential property and personal auto policies, created a separate Chapter 551 subchapter and added exemptions. The adopted Senate third-reading amendment added an express insurer-applicability section and the private-lawsuit bar, preserving attorney-general authority. All versions; Senate amendment text; Amendment index.
The House substitute added fire or casualty insurers to the express list, narrowed the windstorm and flood exclusions to TWIA and National Flood Insurance Program policies, and removed “or agent” from the two cross-purchase clauses. The Senate concurred in the House amendment on May 26. The enrolled law matches the House version’s operative provisions; it retains the private-action bar, including its protection for agents and representatives. Disposition history; Enrolled text.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
The latest fiscal note, May 5, 2025 for the House substitute, anticipates no significant state fiscal impact, with costs absorbed by existing resources, and no local-government fiscal impact. All four posted fiscal notes reach those conclusions. None estimates premium reductions or total consumer savings. Latest fiscal note.
Consumers may gain flexibility to shop separately for covered home and auto policies. Insurers must avoid the prohibited sales or renewal condition, but may still make lawful coverage and pricing decisions. The exceptions and lack of a private action limit the protection; the law does not establish that every household will save money. Scope and enforcement limits.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.
