Advocacy

This week, Scott Hobson, Big I NY's AVP of Government Relations, testified before the NYS Assembly Committees on Insurance and Environmental Protection on the impact of extreme weather on the state's property and casualty insurance market. In the hearing, lawmakers sought testimony on the impact that these types of weather events have had on the New York property and casualty insurance market, including premium rates, policy cancellations and renewals, and explore what steps the Legislature can take to ensure a robust and affordable property and casualty insurance market in New York State going forward.“Put simply, the impact of extreme weather events on the resiliency of…

​Statement from Ted Walsh, Big I NY Chair of the Board:Today is a great day for New York auto insurance policyholders and independent insurance agents, We're thrilled to share that Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law Big I New York's "Auto Insurance Consumer Relief Act," a measure supported by both consumers and the insurance community. The bill allows insurance companies to waive pre-insurance photo inspections beginning on May 15th, 2024, until October 1st, 2027.For too long, the photo inspection mandate has been a burden and an inconvenience for hard-working New Yorkers. Modern solutions for combatting fraud have made the regulation unnecessary and obsolete. On behalf of policyholders across…

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,…