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TITLE 28INSURANCE
PART 1TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE
CHAPTER 5PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE
SUBCHAPTER ETEXAS WINDSTORM INSURANCE ASSOCIATION
DIVISION 1PLAN OF OPERATION
RULE §5.4001Plan of Operation

    (C) Meetings. The annual meeting of the members shall be held at such time and place in March of each year as may be designated by the board of directors, for the purpose of electing directors and for the transaction of such other business as may come before the meeting. If the election of directors shall not be held on the day designated for any annual meeting of the members, the board of directors shall cause the election to be held at a special meeting of the members as soon thereafter as conveniently may be. The board of directors shall designate the place for the annual meeting of the members, but if no place is so designated, then the meeting shall be held at the office of the association. The board of directors, the chair of the board of directors, or 25% of the members of the association may call a special meeting of the members and designate any place as the place of such meeting. If no such designation is made, the place of such meeting shall be the aforesaid office of the association.

    (D) Quorum. Twenty-five percent of the members represented by person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of the members. If less than 25% of the members are represented at a meeting, a majority of the outstanding members so represented may adjourn the meeting from time to time without further notice. At the next meeting after adjournment at which a quorum shall be present or represented, any business may be transacted at the meeting as originally notified. The members represented at a duly organized meeting may continue to transact business until adjournment, notwithstanding the withdrawal of enough persons to leave less than a quorum.

    (E) Voting.

      (i) The secretary-treasurer of the association shall make, at least 10 days before each meeting of the members of the association, a complete list of the members entitled to vote at such meeting, arranged in alphabetical order, with the address of each member and the number of votes allocated to each member which list, for a period of 10 days prior to such meeting, shall be kept on file at the principal office of the association and shall be subject to inspection by any member or its agent at any time during usual business hours. Such list shall also be produced and kept open at the time and place of the meeting and shall be subject to inspection by any member during the whole time of such meeting. Failure to comply with the requirements of this clause shall not affect the validity of any action taken at such meeting.

      (ii) There shall be 1,000 outstanding votes allocated to the members of the association by the secretary-treasurer. The secretary-treasurer shall determine the percentage of each member's participation in the writings, expenses, profits, and losses of the association computed on the date of the end of the last calendar year preceding such annual meeting at which information necessary to make such computation is available from the Department, and shall allocate to each member a like percentage of the total outstanding votes allocated to the members of the association. Each member shall be entitled to vote its allocated number of outstanding shares at the annual meeting and each special meeting until the next annual meeting of the association at which time the outstanding votes shall be again allocated to the members in the manner set forth previously.

      (iii) A member may vote by proxy executed in writing by the member. No proxy shall be valid after the next annual meeting after the date of its execution unless otherwise provided in the proxy. Each proxy shall be revocable unless expressly provided therein to be irrevocable.

      (iv) The votes allocated to a member may be voted by such officer, agent, or proxy as the bylaws of such member may authorize or, in the absence of such authorization, as such member may determine.

      (v) Voting on any question or in any election may be by voice vote or by show of hands unless the presiding officer shall order, or any member shall demand, that voting be by written ballot.

    (F) Rules. To the extent applicable, Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the conduct of and procedure at all meetings of the members.

  (2) Directors.

    (A) Election. At the first annual meeting of members and at each annual meeting thereafter, the members shall elect the appropriate number of directors from the membership of the association in accordance with subparagraph (B) of this paragraph. Directors, other than from the membership, shall be appointed in accordance with subparagraph (C) of this paragraph. The total number of directors of the association shall be nine.

    (B) Directors elected from the membership.

      (i) Five directors shall be five different insurers licensed in Texas and members of the association and elected by the members. No member shall fill more than one seat on the board of directors.

      (ii) No later than 60 days prior to the annual meeting in March 1992, the board of directors shall nominate the five-member companies to serve on the board of directors. In making such nominations, the board of directors shall consider the following factors in nominating a member to serve.

        (I) A minimum of three members shall be companies with multistate operations.

        (II) A minimum of one member shall be a company domiciled in the State of Texas.

        (III) Consideration should be given to voluntary market shares of members; voluntary participation in the catastrophe area; specific expertise in the underwriting, claims handling, or reinsurance of insurance required to be provided by the association; companies that represent as far as possible the view of the member companies; and other factors deemed relevant by the board of directors.

      (iii) No later than 60 days prior to the annual meetings, the chair shall appoint a nominating committee of not less than three, nor more than seven, member companies, each to act through its designated representative, said committee to represent as far as possible the view of the member companies. Said committee shall prepare and present to member companies a list of nominations for the board of directors.

      (iv) Members also have the right to nominate any member by submitting such nominee's name to the nomination committee. In order to be eligible for election to the board of directors, a member must be nominated at least 30 days prior to the annual meeting at which directors are elected.

    (C) Directors appointed by the Commissioner. The number of directors composed of licensed local recording agents and members of the public shall be four. Each of these directors must be from different counties in the designated catastrophe area.

      (i) The Commissioner shall appoint two public representatives nominated by the Office of the Public Insurance Counsel to serve on the board of directors. The public representatives shall be persons who are policyholders of the association as of the date of appointment.

      (ii) The Commissioner shall appoint two licensed local recording agent representatives to serve on the board of directors.

    (D) Term of office. Each director shall hold office for the term of three years from the date of the election or appointment or until a successor shall have been elected or appointed. The terms of the directors shall be staggered so that three directors shall be elected by the membership of the association and/or appointed by the Commissioner annually. A person may hold a seat on the board of directors for not more than three consecutive full terms, not to exceed nine years.

    (E) Regular meetings. A regular meeting of the board of directors shall be held with notice to the directors at least ten days before each regular meeting as provided for in this subsection. Notice of any regular meeting of the directors shall also be given to the Department in care of the associate commissioner of property-casualty, or such other person as may be designated by the Commissioner, as required by the Texas Insurance Code, Article 21.49, §5(k). Public notice of meetings shall be given as required by the Government Code, Chapter 551.

    (F) Notice of regular or emergency meeting.

      (i) Notice of any regular meeting shall be given to the directors at least ten days prior thereto by notice delivered personally or mailed to each director at his/her business address or by telegram, or such other reasonable means of notice to provide actual notice to each director. If mailed, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when deposited in the United States mail, so addressed with postage thereon prepaid. If the notice be given by telegram, such notice shall be deemed to be delivered when the telegram is delivered to the telegraph company. If the notice is by other reasonable means, the association shall maintain a written record of the method of notification. Any director may waive notice of any meeting. The attendance of a director at a meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice to the director of such meeting, except where a director attends a meeting for the express purpose of objection to the transaction of any business because the meeting is not lawfully called or convened.

Cont'd...

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