TITLE: Relating to the applicability of certain laws affecting indemnification agreements to certain contracts or agreements pertaining to electric utility infrastructure.

SUMMARY: Relating to the applicability of certain laws affecting indemnification agreements to certain contracts or agreements pertaining to electric utility infrastructure.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the applicability of certain laws affecting indemnification agreements to certain contracts or agreements pertaining to electric utility infrastructure. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 151.105, Insurance Code, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 151.105. EXCLUSIONS. This subchapter does not affect: (1) an insurance policy, including a policy issued under an owner-controlled or owner-sponsored consolidated insurance program or a contractor-controlled or contractor-sponsored consolidated insurance program, except as provided by Section 151.104; (2) a cause of action for breach of contract or warranty that exists independently of an indemnity obligation, including an indemnity obligation in a construction contract under a construction project for which insurance is provided under a consolidated insurance program; (3) indemnity provisions contained in loan and financing documents, other than construction contracts to which the contractor and owner's lender are parties as provided under Section 151.001(5); (4) general agreements of indemnity required by sureties as a condition of execution of bonds for construction contracts; (5) the benefits and protections under the workers' compensation laws of this state; (6) the benefits or protections under the governmental immunity laws of this state; (7) agreements subject to Chapter 127, Civil Practice and Remedies Code; (8) a license agreement between a railroad company and a person that permits the person to enter the railroad company's property as an accommodation to the person for work under a construction contract that does not primarily benefit the railroad company; (9) an indemnity provision pertaining to a claim based upon copyright infringement; (10) an indemnity provision in a construction contract, or in an agreement collateral to or affecting a construction contract, pertaining to: (A) a single family house, townhouse, duplex, or land development directly related thereto; [or] (B) a public works project of a municipality; or (C) electric infrastructure construction, maintenance, or vegetation management for an electric utility or a transmission and distribution utility as those terms are defined by Section 31.002, Utilities Code, or an electric cooperative or a municipally owned utility, as those terms are defined by Section 11.003, Utilities Code; or (11) a joint defense agreement entered into after a claim is made. SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a contract or agreement entered into on or after the effective date of this Act. A contract or agreement entered into before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.