Advocacy

​This week, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators announced the formation of a Special Committee on Race in Insurance Underwriting. The new committee will study race-related issues in insurance underwriting, with an eye to protect the jurisdiction of state legislatures over the regulation of insurance. The committee will be chaired by Senator Neil Breslin (D, Delmar), the current chairman of the New York State Senate Insurance Committee.The Special Committee will take testimony from stakeholders and work to define “proxy discrimination", which has been used to refer to seemingly neutral practices which disproportionately harm members of certain ethnicity, gender, or other protected class. The committee also…

 What you need to know:The New York State Senate and Assembly have adjourned for the year.Several bills that Big I NY opposed, including business interruption coverage mandates and “bad faith" liability were not passed.The legislature will hold joint hearings on COVID-19 between July 28th and August 25th. ​As of July 24th, the NY Senate and Assembly stand adjourned at the call of the Majority Leader and Speaker​, respectively. Unlike in past years, all bills “on third reading," meaning those that have passed the relevant committee(s) and are eligible for a vote by the full house, remain on third reading. Legislative leaders can call legislators back to session…

What you need to know:• State lawmakers return to Albany on Monday for a full week session, which is expected to be the last “regular” session week. • Members of the legislature will reconvene virtually in early August for a series of hearings on issues related to COVID-19. A list of specific issues is not yet available. • Big I NY opposes retroactive business interruption coverage mandates and “bad faith” lawsuit bills. We are monitoring underwriting restrictions based on dog breeds and COVID-19 Workers Compensation proposals. Here are the latest developments:Big I NY Launches Business Interruption Campaign:​This week, we rolled out a statewide grassroots campaign to oppose A.10226-B…