New York S 1196: Enacts the automobile insurance consumer information act

Bill Text

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S01196 Summary:

BILL NOS01196 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS A03893

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SPONSORADDABBO

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COSPNSR

&nbsp

MLTSPNSR

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Add Art 6 §§601 - 606, §§2354 & 346, amd §§2321, 2305, 3231 & 4308, Ins L; add Art 44-A §§945 - 947, amd
§149, Exec L; amd §202, St Ad Proc Act

&nbsp

Enacts the "automobile insurance consumer information act"; provides for automobile insurance consumer information and complaint ranking; creates office of public insurance consumer advocate and powers and duties therefor; makes related provisions.

Go to top S01196 Actions:

BILL NOS01196 

&nbsp

01/08/2025REFERRED TO INSURANCE

01/07/2026REFERRED TO INSURANCE

Go to topS01196 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS01196 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topS01196 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 1196

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN SENATE

 January 8, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by Sen. ADDABBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance

 AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to improving disclosure
 to automobile insurance consumers; and to amend the executive law, the
 insurance law and the state administrative procedure act, in relation
 to establishing an independent office of public insurance consumer
 advocate and establishing its powers and duties

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. The insurance law is amended by adding a new article 6 to
 2 read as follows:
 3 ARTICLE 6
 4 AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE CONSUMER INFORMATION
 5 Section 601. Title; legislative declaration and purpose.
 6 602. Automobile insurance consumer information and complaint
 7 rankings.
 8 603. Consumer rating factors.
 9 604. Disclosure procedures.
 10 605. Noninterference with obtaining coverage.
 11 606. Public outreach.
 12 § 601. Title; legislative declaration and purpose. This article shall
 13 be known and may be cited as the "automobile insurance consumer informa-
 14 tion act".
 15 The legislature finds and declares that automobile insurance is
 16 required by law for all residents who drive and that the cost of automo-
 17 bile insurance represents a substantial expense for many consumers. The
 18 legislature further finds that the premium costs for any given individ-
 19 ual for identical insurance coverage from different licensed insurers
 20 can vary widely and that wide variations also exist in the quality of
 21 service provided by insurers as measured by the department's annual
 22 complaint handling rankings. In addition, the legislature finds that few

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD02981-01-5

 S. 1196 2

 1 consumers are aware of these wide cost and quality of service vari-
 2 ations, that as a result consumers as a group may pay hundreds of
 3 millions of dollars annually for overpriced policies and that individual
 4 consumers may encounter unnecessary difficulty in having their automo-
 5 bile insurance claims and complaints handled expeditiously. The legis-
 6 lature further finds and declares that it intends for the superintendent
 7 and the department to have broad authority under this article to estab-
 8 lish mechanisms to fully inform consumers as to which policies are
 9 available to them at the lowest possible cost and which insurers provide
 10 the highest quality of service. The legislature intends with this arti-
 11 cle to create certain disclosure requirements that will make such infor-
 12 mation more readily available to all consumers. Increased availability
 13 of information is intended to make the automobile insurance system more
 14 competitive with respect to both cost of coverage and the quality of
 15 service.
 16 § 602. Automobile insurance consumer information and complaint rank-
 17 ings. (a) The superintendent shall maintain a database containing
 18 nonbusiness automobile insurance rate information and complaint rankings
 19 for all companies licensed to do business in the state.
 20 (b) Every person, upon making an inquiry to the department and provid-
 21 ing the information specif