Advocacy

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…

On Thursday, October 12th, Big I NY met with counsel to Governor Hochul and urged that she veto legislation that would ban the use of non-compete agreements.While we appreciate the intentions behind this bill, we firmly believe that a blanket ban on non-competes would have detrimental consequences for the independent insurance industry, particularly in the context of business sales and acquisitions.Big I NY believes this bill must be vetoed for the following reasons:Preserving Business Value: Insurance agencies invest time and resources in building and maintaining client relationships. A non-compete agreement prevents departing agents from taking clients and policy expirations with them to a competitor, preserving…

​What Happened:On October 2nd, Big I NY's senior leaders met with the state's top insurance regulator to discuss the alarming state of the insurance market. Ted Walsh, Big I NY's Chair of the Board and David Bodenstein, Vice Chair, joined by Lisa Lounsbury and Scott Hobson traveled to the NYS Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) headquarters in NYC to meet with John Finston, Executive Deputy Superintendent of Insurance, and Ellen Buxbaum, Director of Producer Supervision. In the meeting, we issued a dire warning – if the present trends continue, New York is headed for a crisis of availability.​Why it Matters:As the top official in the NYSDFS's…