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(Identify the item and cite the series), Commissioner's topic files, Commissioner of Insurance, Texas State Board of Insurance. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
The commissioner of insurance is appointed by the three-member Board of Insurance to oversee the functions of the agency, the Texas State Board of Insurance. During the time period of these records the Commissioner of Insurance directly supervised several specialized units in the commissioner's office: Hearings, Statutory Compliance, and Internal Audit. The commissioner also oversaw all other agency functions that were divided into four broad programs directed by associate commissioners: Administrative Services, Compliance, Financial, and Regulated Lines and Licensing. The Administrative Services program managed the agency's data processing, planning, budget, human resources, accounting, tax collection, and other staff services. The Compliance program with its Legal Services, Market Conduct and Unauthorized Insurance sections enforced state law regarding unfair trade practices and unfair competition by an insurer or its representatives and investigated complaints against companies and agents. The Financial program was responsible for monitoring the solvency and business affairs of the insurance companies licensed in Texas. The Liquidation and Conservation sections in the Financial program were later transferred and placed under the direct supervision of the commissioner. The Conservation section attempted to rehabilitate and conserve insurance entities with impaired financial conditions and the Liquidation section operated under court order to liquidate insolvent companies. Finally, Regulated Lines and Licensing, with its Property, Casualty, Life, and Licensing sections had jurisdiction for most of the statutory filings processed by the board.
Types of records of the Commissioner of Insurance of the Texas State Board of Insurance include minutes, incoming and outgoing correspondence, internal memos, reports, copies of proposed legislation, contracts, organizational charts, computer printouts, newspaper and magazine clippings, statistical tables, and other reference materials compiled by the commissioner. Records are for fiscal year (FY) 1989, September 1, 1988 to August 31, 1989, with some records dating back to 1975.
Records consist of the topic files maintained by the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. Records document the commissioner's relationship with the governing Board of Insurance; his administration of the units within the commissioner's office and his supervision of the programs of the entire agency; and his interaction with state and federal legislators, their constituents, and with insurance industry associations.
These records document a period of great turmoil in the agency. The
collapse of a Dallas-based property and casualty insurer, National County
Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in October 1988, was the largest such insurance
failure in Texas history and the Insurance Board hired a special investigator,
Colonel Jim Adams, former director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, to
examine the collapse and submit a report. The situation also resulted in an
investigation by the Texas Legislature of the Board of Insurance. Shortly after
the collapse the insurance commissioner, Doyce R. Lee, resigned and by March
1989 two board members, including the chairman, has also resigned. A.W.
Correspondents of note include the new Chairman of the Board of Insurance Paul Wrotenberry, Colonel Jim Adams, state senator John Montford, and state representatives Eddie Cavazos and Tom Gavin. Correspondence listed under U.S. Senators Lloyd Bentsen and Phil Graham are the incoming letters from their constituents on insurance matters that the senators referred to the Insurance Board.
To prepare this inventory, the described materials were cursorily reviewed to delineate series, to confirm the accuracy of contents lists, to provide an estimate of dates covered, and to determine record types.
These records are organized into five series:
Paul B. Beck, October 1991
Accession number: 1991/038
These records were transferred to the Texas State Archives by the Texas State Board of Insurance on December 11, 1990.
The commissioner's topic files with the Board of Insurance include the commissioner's 1988 annual report to the Board, correspondence and memos, and a special investigative report by Colonel Jim Adams, former director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, on the National County Mutual Fire Insurance Company collapse.
Topic files from the Commissioner's Office/Executive Administration include deputy commissioner meetings, the commissioner's reading files, the Internal Audit section, and files on a proposal for an Early Warning group that would provide advance warning to the agency of insurers in hazardous financial condition. The records date from 1975 to 1989.
These records reflect the commissioner's supervision of the agency's four main programs: Administrative Services, Compliance, Financial, and Regulated Lines and Licensing. Under Administrative Services are budget, personnel and purchasing records. Topic files in the Compliance program include open records requests and public inquiries or complaints against agents and companies. Files from the Financial program consist mostly of the activities of the Conservation and Liquidation sections as they worked with damaged or insolvent insurers. The bulk of the program files are from Regulated Lines and Licensing and its efforts to administer licensing functions for casualty, life, and property insurance including workers' compensation and health maintenance organizations. The records are dated from 1986 to 1989.
The commissioner's files on government agencies and legislators date from 1986 to 1989, and are divided between the state and federal levels. On the state level, files of correspondence with Texas legislators are arranged alphabetically. The commissioner also kept detailed records of proposed legislation in the 71st Texas Legislature on insurance-related matters. Other state files consist of correspondence with various agencies and officials on a wide range of topics. Federal files consist mainly of incoming constituent correspondence to the Texas Senate delegation on insurance-related matters referred to the Insurance Board.
The commissioner kept brief, topical files on various insurance-related associations and employee unions. These records date from 1988 to 1989.