EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN OTHER LAW.

(a) Except as provided by Subsections (b), (c), and (d), an insurer is exempt from the rate filing and approval requirements of this chapter if the insurer, during the calendar year preceding the date filing is otherwise required under this chapter, issued residential property insurance policies in this state that accounted for less than two percent of the total amount of premiums collected by insurers for residential property insurance policies issued in this state, more than 50 percent of which cover property:

(1) valued at less than $100,000; and

(2) located in an area designated by the commissioner as underserved for residential property insurance under Chapter 2004.

(b) If an insurer described by Subsection (a) is a member of an affiliated insurance group, this subchapter applies to the insurer only if the total aggregate premium collected by the group accounts for less than two percent of the total amount of premiums collected by insurers for residential property insurance policies issued in this state.

(c) An insurer described by Subsection (a) that proposes to increase the premium rates charged policyholders for a residential property insurance product by an amount that is 10 percent or more over the amount the insurer charged policyholders for the same or an equivalent residential property insurance product during the preceding calendar year must file the insurer's proposed rates in accordance with this chapter and, if applicable, obtain approval of the proposed rates as provided by this chapter.

(d) An insurer described by Subsection (a) that increases the premium rates charged policyholders for a residential property insurance product by an annual average amount of eight percent or greater for three consecutive calendar years must file the insurer's proposed rates in accordance with this chapter in the calendar year following the three consecutive years and, if applicable, obtain approval of the proposed rates as provided by this chapter. In calculating the three consecutive calendar years' average premium increases, an insurer is not required to consider a year in which there is a weather-related catastrophe or other major natural disaster that requires the commissioner to extend the claim-handling deadlines under Section 542.059(b).