Restricts insurers from demanding intrusive personal, financial and tax information from insureds as a standard practice in processing ordinary theft claims where no special circumstances warranting a demand for such information exists.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1731A
SPONSOR: Dinowitz
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to restricting insurers
from demanding intrusive personal, financial and tax information from
insureds as a standard practice in processing ordinary theft claims
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Restricts insurers from demanding intrusive personal, financial and tax
information from insured's as a. standard practice in ordinary theft
claims.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill adds § 2619 to the Insurance Law to restrict
insurers from demanding intrusive personal, financial, and tax informa-
tion from an insured as a standard practice in ordinary theft claims.
Section two of the bill provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Requests for personal and financial information which has nothing to do
with .a theft claim made by an insured are inappropriate and intrusive.
For example, companies have requested copies of personal and business
tax returns, license and registration, other permits or licenses held in
NYS, loan applications filed, statements setting forth the county and
state in which the insured was registered to vote over the last five
years, copies of any bank statements, and copies'of any "Doing Business
As" Certificates or Certificates of Incorporation for any businesses
owned in addition to requiring that the insured make a recorded state-
ment regarding the circumstances of the theft. While an insurance compa-
ny has a right to information pertinent to the claim in question, clear-
ly many of these demands go beyond being reasonable requests and are
exceedingly onerous and intrusive.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022: A.2254 - Reported to Rules
2021: A.2254 - Insurance
2019-20: A.3718 - Insurance
2017-18: A.2532 - Third Reading Calendar
2015-16: A.1340 - Third Reading Calendar
2013-14: A.302 - Third Reading Calendar
2011-12: A.714 - Insurance
2009-10: A.534 - Insurance / S.3987 - Insurance
2007-08: A.490-A - Passed Assembly / S.3987 - Insurance
2005-06: A.1226-A - Passed Assembly 13.7060-A - Insurance
2003-04: A.6576 - Passed Assembly / S.3192 - Insurance
2001-02: A.1782 - Passed Assembly / S.2852 - Insurance
1999-00: A.5536/3.2116 - Assembly Calendar / S.2116 - Insurance
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the
addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rules and regulations necessary
for the implementation of the foregoing section of this act on its
effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on
or before such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1731--A
Cal. No. 52
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 20, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, WEPRIN, EPSTEIN, DICKENS -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Insurance -- ordered to a third read-
ing, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order
of third reading
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to restricting insurers
from demanding intrusive personal, financial and tax information from
insureds as a standard practice in processing ordinary theft claims
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 2619
2 to read as follows:
3 § 2619. Intrusive requests for personal, financial and tax informa-
4 tion; ordinary theft claims. (a) It shall be an unfair claim settlement
5 act or practice under paragraphs three and four of subsection (a) of
6 section two thousand six hundred one of this article for an insurer, in
7 the course of investigating or settling a theft claim, to demand of its
8 insured personal, financial and tax information unless special articula-
9 ble circumstances have been discovered which directly relate to the
10 particular individual facts of such theft and which warrant the making
11 of such demand for the specific purpose of determining if such claim is
12 fraudulent.
13 (b) As used in this section, a demand for personal, financial and tax
14 information is a demand that any of the following material or informa-
15 tion be provided:
16 (1) copies of the insured's personal and business tax returns;
17 (2) permits or licenses which the insured holds in New York state
18 other than those for operating a motor vehicle;
19 (3) loan applications which the insured filed;
20 (4) statement setting forth the county and state in which the insured
21 has been registered to vote over a period of time, other than from his
22 or her present residence;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00825-02-4
A. 1731--A 2
1 (5) copies of any bank statements of banks in which the insured has
2 accounts;
3 (6) copies of any "doing business as" certificates or certificates of
4 incorporation for any business the insured owns; or
5 (7) information or material of a similar personal, financial, tax or
6 private nature which the superintendent by regulation finds to be intru-
7 sive or which constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy in the
8 context of a standard or ordinary theft claim.
9 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
10 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediate-
11 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rules or regulations
12 necessary for the implementation of the foregoing section of this act on
13 its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before
14 such effective date.