Advocacy

This week, independent agents from across the state participated in virtual meetings with state lawmakers, urging them to pass photo inspection modernization as part of the state budget. Governor Hochul's executive budget proposal includes legislation to allow carriers to waive CARCO inspections, and we are pushing the Senate and Assembly to follow suit in their respective budget proposals.Independent Agents Advocacy Week began with a kickoff session keynoted by Senator Neil Breslin, chairman of the influential Senate Insurance Committee and sponsor of photo inspection reform legislation. “On photo inspection, we're pushing it again very hard…hopefully we'll get it passed and signed into law and we'll all…

Governor Hochul has released her executive budget proposal, and we are thrilled to report she has included our bill to allow insurance companies to waive photo inspections. Since the bill was vetoed in November 2022, we have been negotiating with the Governor to reach an agreement, and those efforts have paid off.The proposed budget legislation, if passed, will take effect in October of 2023, and carriers will be allowed to waive photo inspections until October 2027. Between now and April 1st, the state Senate and Assembly will release their own budget proposals, and then the Governor and Legislative Leaders will negotiate a final budget. Therefore, we need…

On January 10th, in the Assembly Chamber, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her second State of the State Address. In her address, the Governor declared, “the state of our state is strong." Throughout her speech, the Governor outlined her various priorities for the upcoming Legislative Session, which she is calling the “Achieving the New York Dream," Agenda. Some of the priorities she mentioned in her speech include increasing housing in the State, raising the minimum wage, expanding access to mental health services and child care services, continuing to work on meeting the State's climate goals, and potential changes to New York's bail laws. The Governor also…