Cahill Appointed Chair of Assembly Insurance Committee

January 25, 2013

Albany, NY – Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D- Ulster, Dutchess) was named Chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee yesterday. Cahill previously chaired the Assembly Energy Committee for four years before accepting this new post and remains a member of the Health, Economic Development, Ethics, Higher Education, and Ways and Means committees.

“I am honored to have been chosen to lead the Assembly’s Insurance Committee,” said Assemblymember Cahill. “I look forward to working with the Governor and Senate to advance policies that promote the best interests of consumers and widen access and coverage to meet the growing needs of those across the state.”

During his tenure at the Assembly, Cahill has been instrumental in addressing the state’s increasingly complex insurance issues. As a member of the Health committee, he helped to pass the New York Health Benefit Exchange Act. This law brought the state into compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act and will facilitate the purchase and sale of qualified health plans in the individual market and help small business owners enroll their employees in a plan.

The purview of the Committee on Insurance covers a myriad of insurance-related issues, ranging from health care, automobile and property policies to consumer fraud and insurance industry practices.

“In light of the worldwide phenomena of increasingly extreme weather patterns and drastic changes in climate, it is important now more than ever that insurance policies change and companies are held accountable to reflect our new reality,” Cahill said. “I will work with my colleagues to ensure that lives and homes are adequately covered and protected as Chair of the Insurance Committee.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said, “I am pleased to announce the appointment of Assemblyman Kevin Cahill as chair of the Insurance Committee. I know he will serve the people of New York dutifully in this role and provide exemplary guidance in leading this committee. For New Yorkers, issues related to health and property insurance have been particularly relevant following major federal health care changes and the devastation wrought by a series of violent storms, and I know Kevin will approach this new role with the same energy, enthusiasm, and dedication that he shows his constituents.”

"Speaker Silver has made an excellent choice in appointing Kevin Cahill to lead the Standing Committee on Insurance," said Majority Leader Joseph D. Morelle, D-Irondequoit, who previously chaired the committee from 2007 until January 2013. "From the cost of health care to the timely payments of life policies, insurance issues are critical to our economy and to the well-being of hard-working families. I know Chairman Cahill will provide wise and steady stewardship of this very important committee."

“We congratulate Mr. Cahill for his well-deserved appointment and congratulate Speaker Silver for this informed and sensible appointment,” said Kevin Ryan, CIC, CPIA, Past President of Professional Insurance Agents of New York State Inc. and principal at Valley Group Inc., an independent insurance agency in Kingston, N.Y. “He has long maintained relationships with local PIANY agents in the Mid-Hudson Valley, meeting regularly to discuss insurance-related issues and he has an understanding of insurance that will benefit his constituents and all of New York’s insurance-buying public.”

What's New