Relates to personal and commercial lines insurance; provides that an insurer or producer shall, prior to the time a policy of personal lines insurance is sold or purchased, provide the potential insured with a copy of the policy and allow the potential insured sufficient time to review such policy; further provides that an insurer or producer shall, prior to the time a policy of commercial lines insurance that provides coverage for loss or damage to real property, personal property, or other liabilities for loss or damage to property is sold or purchased, provide the potential insured with a copy of the policy and allow the potential insured sufficient time to review such policy.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7454
SPONSOR: Cahill TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to
personal and commercial lines insurance
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: The purpose of this bill is to
require insurers to provide consumers with copies of certain insurance
policies prior to the policy being purchased in order to allow consumers
to make informed decisions about their insurance coverage.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: This bill would require an insurer,
agent, or broker to provide to consumers in the market for homeowners
and certain commercial policies a copy of the policy, prior to the time
such policy is sold or purchased. The potential insured would have
sufficient time to read and review the policy.
JUSTIFICATION: Insurance policies can be vital following a disaster
such as Superstorm Sandy, when payments from insurers are vital to help-
ing people recover and rebuild. However, many home and business owners
find their homeowners and commercial insurance policies to be confusing.
One reason for this is because many times consumers are only provided
with the entire policy after they have purchased it; prior to that, they
only receive a general outline as to what the policy covers and
excludes. This bill would address this by requiring insurers, agents,
and brokers to provide consumers with copies of homeowners and certain
commercial policies prior to the policy being purchased. Having this
information will allow consumers to make informed decisions about the
coverage that they need to adequately insure themselves and their prop-
erty.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: None noted.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7454
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 17, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CAHILL -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Insurance
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to personal and commer-
cial lines insurance
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 3425 of the insurance law is amended by adding a
2 new subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
3 (a-1) An insurer or producer shall, prior to the time a policy of
4 personal lines insurance is sold or purchased, provide the potential
5 insured with a copy of the policy and allow the potential insured suffi-
6 cient time to review such policy. Personal lines insurance shall have
7 the same meaning as paragraph two of subsection (a) of this section.
8 § 2. Section 3426 of the insurance law is amended by adding a new
9 subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
10 (a-1) An insurer or producer shall, prior to the time a policy of
11 commercial lines insurance that provides coverage for loss or damage to
12 real property, personal property, or other liabilities for loss or
13 damage to property is sold or purchased, provide the potential insured
14 with a copy of the policy and allow the potential insured sufficient
15 time to review such policy.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11167-01-3
