Advocacy

  This week, Big I NY members from Buffalo to Long Island traveled to Albany to urge lawmakers to take action on a number of key issues affecting IAs and our customers. Delegations from nearly all of our local associations, including many members of the Group of 100​, kicked off the day with a briefing session before departing for meetings with state lawmakers representing their region. Members urged lawmakers to reject a significant expansion of the Department of Financial Services' authority to prosecute unfair, deceptive, and abusive business practices, as well as a dramatic and unwarranted increase in insurance law fines and penalties. Big I…

Did you miss last week's legislative update call? You can now access the recording here​! In this call, Big I NY provided updates on issues in the state budget, 2020 legislative priorities, Independent Agents Advocacy Day, and new training resources available to Big I NY members. Legislative update calls are held every other week during legislative session. View the schedule and register here.  Source

​Big I NY has released our 2020 p​osition paper​, outlining our key priorities for this year's session.  This year's paper outlines key victories from 2019, including the passage of "storm chasers" legislation, small business regulatory relief, and the defeat of harmful liability-expanding legislation and a bill to ban the use of lead paint exposure exclusions. ​We continue to push for legislation to improve Workers Compensation for our customers, by raising the payroll threshold for the Workplace Safety and Loss Prevention Program, and eliminating the requirement to provide 30 days' notice before withdrawing from the State Insurance Fund. As in previous years, we are calling for the…