NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8831
SPONSOR: Berger TITLE OF BILL:
An act to repeal certain provisions of the insurance law relating to
anti-arson applications
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to repeal section 3403 of the insurance law
and its accompanying regulations.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 - Repeals section 3403 of the insurance law
Section 2- Directs Superintendent of Department of Financial services to
repeal all rules and regulations which implement section 3403 of insur-
ance law
Section 3- Establishes the effective aate
JUSTIFICATION:
In 1981 when New York first enacted its anti-arson application law
(originally section 168-j of the insurance law, now section 3403), arson
for profit was a significant economic and societal problem. New York's
anti-arson application law was enacted to give insurers ownership and
property valuation information to assist in the investigation of arson
for profit and to require property owners to sign a fraud statement.
However, present-day arson investigation techniques no longer rely on
the anti-arson application form to determine ownership and property
valuation and fraud statements are collected through other means when
adjusting a loss. Insurers have access to a multitude of third-party
sources to determine ownership and property values. Since the informa-
tion collected on the form is no longer used, completing and collecting
the form (which is required for both new and renewed insurance policies)
creates a significant burden for both consumers and insurers. Consumers
suffer because completing the form is burdensome and insurance carriers
must cancel in force policies when the form is not returned, which means
that the policyholder may be without coverage. Furthermore, consumers
hear the ultimate administrative cost of having ins urers reinstate
policies that have been cancelled when they fail to renew the anti-arson
application. Insurers are burdened by the inordinate amount of time
spent tracking down the anti-arson application from property owners.
Recognizing that the reason that this law was originally enacted no
longer exists, both Rochester and Buffalo repealed the law in recent
years.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2018: Referred to Insurance.
2019: Passed Assembly. Died in Senate.
2020: Passed Assembly. Died in Senate.
2021: Passed Assembly. Died in Senate.
2022: Passed Assembly. Died in Senate.
2023: Referred to Insurance
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8831
IN ASSEMBLY
January 18, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BERGER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Insurance
AN ACT to repeal certain provisions of the insurance law relating to
anti-arson applications
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 3403 of the insurance law is REPEALED.
2 § 2. The superintendent of financial services shall repeal all rules
3 and regulations which implement the provisions of section 3403 of the
4 insurance law.
5 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06507-01-3
