Advocacy

The NYS DMV has issued official guidance on the reopening of DMV offices.  As regions enter phase 3 of reopening, DMV will offer limited in-person transactions in state-run DMV offices by reservation only, prioritizing critical services, and will resume all other road tests at that time. Until then, there will be no in-person transactions in any DMV office and reservations will only become available as regions enter phase 3.  Individual county-run DMVs are advised to follow the state timeline, but this is a recommendation, not a mandate. As of June 1, state-run DMV offices in the counties of Albany, Onondaga, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and the five boroughs of…

What you need to know: The state legislature is anticipated to reconvene throughout the year, rather than adjourning in mid-June as is typical The legislature’s focus will be COVID-19, with many issues likely to affect IAs and policyholders We don’t yet know to what extent other issues will be considered. These are truly uncharted waters. Since mid-March, New York’s policy response to COVID-19 has been spearheaded by the state’s executive branch, through executive orders and emergency regulations. Until last week, the legislature was largely out of the picture.That changed on May 23rd, when Senate and Assembly leaders announced they would resume work virtually, beginning with…

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has again extended an order that prohibits insurance carriers from terminating some policies and requires them to be lenient with policyholders suffering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic. The requirements, which were scheduled to expire on June 6, will remain in place until June 28th.  The governor issued an executive order on March 29 that required the state Department of Financial Services to issue regulations setting a 60-day moratorium on insurers cancelling, non-renewing or conditionally renewing some policies. The regulations also required insurers and premium finance companies to make accommodations for households and small businesses having trouble paying their premiums because of the pandemic. The expiration of…