Advocacy

A few months ago the NYS legislature passed our bill to end mandatory CARCO inspections for the next four years. We are urging the Governor to sign the bill swiftly, it still has not been called to her desk.Big I members have sent thousands of emails and petitions. Now we're going to get old-school: we're going to flood her office with letters. Why physical letters? It demonstrates a higher level of commitment, and gets attention (and they never get caught in the spam filter).Our goal is 250 letters mailed this week. I'm counting on you to pitch in.Copy and paste the below onto agency letterhead,…

​Written by: Lisa Lounsbury, President & CEO of Big I New YorkAt Big I New York, there is no higher priority than supporting and advocating for our members.  It is often difficult for others to see the breadth and impact of the advocacy work that we do with regulators, legislators, and carriers.  Today, there is an easy-to-share tangible result of our advocacy efforts that Utica National Insurance Group just communicated.We met with Utica National Insurance Group this week immediately after they announced the commission changes to certain segments of their New York Private Passenger Auto business.  While we do not agree with or support the…

This week, Big I NY, along with dozens of groups representing a wide swath of New York's employers, issued a letter to Governor Hochul urging her to again veto legislation which would radically increase jury awards in wrongful death lawsuits. This legislation would impose major costs on policyholders, burden taxpayers, stifle economic growth, and destabilize the state's already faltering insurance market. The bill, S.6636/A.6698, would allow for subjective “pain and suffering" damages, substantially expand who would be eligible to receive awards, and retroactive lengthen the statute of limitations for filing wrongful death lawsuits. This would make New York's wrongful death laws the most generous in the…