2025 · Regular session · Senate bill
SB458
SB458 requires an appraisal process in covered personal-auto and residential-property insurance policies to resolve disputes over the amount of a loss.
Official caption: Relating to an appraisal process for disputed losses under personal automobile or residential property insurance policies.
Official report lists Senate author(s): Schwertner. 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.
- SB458 requires an appraisal process in covered personal-auto and residential-property insurance policies to resolve disputes over the amount of a loss.
- The appraisal determines the disputed dollar amount; it does not change applicable policy terms.
- The insurance commissioner must set completion periods by rule, considering appraiser and umpire qualifications and selection.
- SB458 became law without the governor’s signature June 20, 2025 and took effect September 1, 2025.
What does it do?
SB458 requires an appraisal process in covered personal-auto and residential-property insurance policies to resolve disputes over the amount of a loss. It includes the FAIR Plan and eligible surplus lines coverage when Texas is the insured’s home state. It excludes commercial policies and Texas Windstorm Insurance Association policies. Final law, scope and required clause.
The appraisal determines the disputed dollar amount; it does not change applicable policy terms. An award must substantially comply with the policy’s appraisal clause. Its amount is binding on the policyholder and insurer except for fraud, accident or a material mistake relevant to the appraisal, or an award made without authority. A binding loss amount is not a promise that every claimed expense is covered under the policy. Effect of appraisal.
The insurance commissioner must set completion periods by rule, considering appraiser and umpire qualifications and selection. The law also directs rules mandating appraisal for the total loss and damage of the property that is the subject of the appraisal. The act itself does not prescribe a fixed number of days; this briefing does not substitute a guessed deadline for the implementing rules. Rulemaking directions.
SB458 became law without the governor’s signature June 20, 2025 and took effect September 1, 2025. The new chapter applies to policies delivered, issued for delivery or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. A policy form otherwise required to be filed, in use on January 1 and already compliant with the new chapter, need not be refiled merely because of this act. History; Application date and form-filing relief.
What changed along the way?
The Senate substitute replaced the introduced rulemaking directions with the appraiser/umpire and total-loss provisions, added accident and lack of authority to the exceptions to a binding award, required substantial policy compliance and added relief from refiling existing compliant forms. The House substitute narrowed the substantial-compliance wording to the policy’s appraisal clause and moved the form-relief date from September 1, 2025 to January 1, 2026. Those House changes survived Senate concurrence May 26. Introduced version; Senate substitute; House substitute; All versions.
The only indexed floor amendment, offered by Gutierrez, failed April 9. It proposed a 10% cap on an annual premium increase when the prior year’s appraised loss exceeded the insurer’s last appraisal-award offer by at least 25%, with an exception for two or more separate claims producing multiple appraisals in the same policy year. It also proposed documentation, complaints and enforcement rules. None of that failed amendment became part of SB458; the enacted bill does not contain that premium cap. Amendment index; Failed proposal.
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 March 25 introduced, April 2 Senate-substitute and May 5 House-substitute fiscal notes anticipate no significant state fiscal impact, with costs absorbable using existing resources, and no local-government fiscal impact. They do not estimate policyholder appraisal fees, premium changes or claim-payment increases. Latest indexed fiscal note.
Policyholders and insurers gain a required process to settle valuation disputes under covered policies. Insurers must use compliant provisions; existing compliant forms receive the limited refiling relief. The act does not guarantee a higher award, lower premium or faster resolution in every case, and the failed premium-cap proposal must not be presented as consumer protection that actually passed. Enacted requirements.
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.
