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A01466 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1466
 
SPONSOR: Blankenbush
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to group property/casualty insurance   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To facilitate the ability of New York residents to obtain employer-pro- vided group property/casualty insurance coverage when their employers are based in another state.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section one adds a new subsection (e) to Insurance Law section 3435 enabling residents of New York who are employed by employers based in another state to obtain property/casualty or liability coverage under a policy issued to their employer in 'that state, provided the policy is: (1) issued by an insurer licensed in such other state, (2) approved by that state's insurance regulator, and (3) the certificate of insurance provided to the New York-based employee is issued without cost to the employee. Further, any certificate of insurance issued to a New York resident under these conditions must slate that insurance provided is not subject to the consumer protections of the New York Insurance Law. Section two is the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: New York's existing law, by virtue of its operation and interpretation by the New York State Insurance Department, works to prevent certain group property/casualty coverage from being made available to New York based employees of out-of-state companies, even where no cost to the employee is involved. While such an outcome is laudable in circumstances where New York resi- dents could be paying premiums for products not licensed in New York, or receiving coverage under policy forms not subject to review by the New York Insurance Department, current law works in a counterproductive, overly paternalistic manner when it serves to prevent New York residents from obtaining an employee benefit made available free of charge to employees in other states. This bill was introduced after a situation where employees of a Pennsyl- vania-based company were offered several benefits by their employer due to the possible harm they could suffer from an identity theft incident. These benefits included daily credit report monitoring, automatic alerts for key changes to credit reports, unlimited access to credit report and credit score information and $25,000 in identity theft coverage (with no deductible) provided by a licensed insurer. These benefits were provided to company employees nationwide, however, the New York employees of this company were informed the insurance coverage would not be available to them because identity theft insurance coverage could not be offered to New York residents. No public policy is served under circumstances such as these. The worst- case scenario would be that the coverage is worthless, but since no premium was exchanged and the insured knew New York's laws would not extend consumer protections there is essentially no public purpose in preventing residents from being offered coverage for free.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately.
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A01466 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1466
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 17, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M. of A. BLANKENBUSH, BRABENEC, DeSTEFANO, HAWLEY, McDO-
          NOUGH, MILLER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance
 
        AN  ACT  to  amend   the   insurance   law,   in   relation   to   group
          property/casualty insurance
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Section 3435 of the insurance law is amended  by  adding  a
     2  new subsection (e) to read as follows:
     3    (e) Neither the provisions of this section nor any other provisions of
     4  this  chapter  shall  serve  to prevent the issuance of a certificate of
     5  group property/casualty or liability insurance issued to a  resident  of
     6  this  state  when  such  certificate  is  issued  under  a master policy
     7  procured by an employer based in another state, provided (i) the  policy
     8  is  an approved policy issued by an insurer licensed in such state, (ii)
     9  the policy has been approved for sale in such state, and (iii)  provided
    10  the  certificate  is  issued  without cost to the New York resident. Any
    11  such certificate issued to a New York  resident  shall  state  that  the
    12  insurance  provided thereunder is not regulated by the state of New York
    13  and not subject to consumer protections otherwise afforded by this chap-
    14  ter.
    15    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05180-01-3
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