Provides for the establishment of residential home safety and loss prevention courses certified by the superintendent of financial services; requires insurers to provide actuarially appropriate discounts on fire and homeowners insurance premiums to those homeowners who have completed a residential home safety and loss prevention course; directs the superintendent of financial services to promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to implement such program and specifies certain matters which must be included in such rules and regulations; requires the superintendent of financial services to issue a report thereon.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1763
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. COLTON, COOK, ROSENTHAL, MILLER, PALMESANO,
SANTABARBARA, HYNDMAN, RIVERA -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Insurance
AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to establishing residen-
tial home safety and loss prevention courses and providing for an
associated reduction in certain insurance premiums and providing for
the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2346 of the insurance law is amended by adding a
2 new subsection 6 to read as follows:
3 6. The superintendent shall provide for an actuarially appropriate
4 reduction in the rates of fire insurance premiums or homeowners insur-
5 ance premiums applicable to residential real property for any insured
6 for a three year period after successfully completing a residential home
7 safety and loss prevention course certified pursuant to section two
8 thousand three hundred forty-six-b of this article.
9 § 2. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 2346-b to
10 read as follows:
11 § 2346-b. Certification of residential home safety and loss prevention
12 courses. (a) The department, in consultation with the office of fire
13 prevention and control of the division of homeland security and emergen-
14 cy services and any additional state entity it deems appropriate, shall
15 certify all residential home safety and loss prevention courses that are
16 authorized to offer classes through which the insured shall be eligible
17 to receive an insurance premium reduction pursuant to subsection six of
18 section two thousand three hundred forty-six of this article.
19 (b) For the purposes of this section:
20 (1) "residential home safety and loss prevention course" or "course"
21 shall mean an instructional program that presents information and meth-
22 ods that can help an insured to significantly prevent or minimize
23 personal injuries and property losses in residential real property due
24 to the occurrence of fire, theft, burglary, accidents and weather
25 related events, including, but not limited to, how to mitigate property
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04843-01-5
A. 1763 2
1 damage from hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes and other natural disas-
2 ters; and
3 (2) "course sponsor" shall mean any individual, company or organiza-
4 tion that has developed or owns a residential home safety and loss
5 prevention course and all agents of such sponsor including independent
6 contractors that conduct classes for such sponsor and class instructors.
7 (c) The department shall promulgate such rules and regulations as are
8 necessary to implement the provisions of this section. Such rules shall,
9 at a minimum, provide for:
10 (1) course sponsor application procedures that an applicant shall
11 follow to obtain course certification approval;
12 (2) curriculum standards that the course sponsors and instructors
13 shall utilize, based upon submissions from any course sponsor as defined
14 in paragraph two of subsection (b) of this section, including teaching
15 methods and time requirements which shall be in excess of three hours;
16 (3) standards, based upon submissions from any course sponsor as
17 defined in paragraph two of subsection (b) of this section, that course
18 sponsors shall satisfy to ensure that class instructors are adequately
19 trained;
20 (4) a demonstration by the course sponsor that successfully completing
21 such course will significantly reduce fire, theft, liability and weather
22 related losses in the residence;
23 (5) standards, based upon submissions from any course sponsor as
24 defined in paragraph two of subsection (b) of this section, to ensure
25 that individuals that complete such course shall receive certificates
26 that can be submitted to an insurer to demonstrate successful completion
27 of the class. Such certificates of completion shall be tamper proof and
28 designed so that they can not be fraudulently reproduced or forged by an
29 unauthorized issuer; and
30 (6) procedures for on-going surveillance of course presentation and
31 administration to ensure that the insurance premium reduction awarded
32 is, and continues to be, proportionally related to the actuarially
33 calculable decrease in losses attributable to the course.
34 (d) The department is authorized to suspend or revoke the certificate
35 of approval of any course sponsor if the department determines that such
36 sponsor has violated the provisions of this section or has misrepre-
37 sented information on the initial application or in periodic reports
38 submitted to the department.
39 (e) The department may increase or decrease the insurance premium
40 discount awarded to such course if it is found that such discount is not
41 actuarially appropriate.
42 § 3. Not less than 180 days before the expiration of the provision of
43 this act, the superintendent of financial services shall issue a report
44 to the governor, temporary president of the senate, speaker of the
45 assembly, and the chairs of the committees on insurance of the senate
46 and assembly stating the superintendent's findings on the effect of
47 residential home safety and loss prevention courses in reducing homeown-
48 ers insurance claims.
49 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
50 it shall have become a law and shall expire and be deemed repealed 5
51 years after such effective date. Effective immediately, the addition,
52 amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the
53 implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be
54 made and completed on or before such effective date.
