GOVERNMENT: State legislation moves forward

A bill (SB 1300) approved by the Texas Senate in late April would require insurance companies to provide written notice to both shops and consumers explaining how their payment policies and claims procedures differ between direct repair facilities and non-direct repair facilities.
This was a concept recommended to lawmakers in a report earlier this year by Texas Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin as his term ended.
The bill also would require insurers to provide to shops, upon request, a written explanation of the requirements to become a DRP facility with that insurer.
Also in late April, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer signed into law a bill (HB 265), backed by the Montana Collision Repair Specialists, that effective immediately prohibits a insurer from “unilaterally disregard(ing) a repair operation or cost identified by an estimating system” that the insurer and shop have agreed to use to determine the cost of repair.