Senate Committee OK’s Big I NY’s Producer Advertising Bill
Big I New York’s bill to repeal an outdated law on insurance producer advertising cleared a major hurdle yesterday. The New York State Senate Insurance Committee approved Senate Bill 9403 by a vote of 9-0, clearing it for consideration by the full Senate.
The bill, sponsored by Insurance Committee Chair Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey (D-Bronx and Westchester Counties), repeals a provision in state law that requires any advertisement by an insurance producer that refers to a specific insurance company to provide the company’s full name and the name of the city, town, or village in which it has its headquarters.
Sen. Bailey and Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Saratoga, Washington, and Warren Counties) introduced the bill (in the Assembly A.10611) at the urging of Big I New York. The New York State Department of Financial Services has increased enforcement of the provision. Many recent citations have involved producers who displayed insurers’ logos on their websites—often linked directly to the insurers’ own sites—without also listing the insurer’s full name and home office location. Big I New York member agencies have been fined for committing this minor offense.
Big I New York is pushing for the repeal of this requirement because it no longer provides meaningful consumer protections and penalizes insurance agencies for doing what many businesses do – provide links to their business partners on their websites.
Our efforts will now turn toward getting the full Senate to pass the bill and convincing the Assembly to approve it.
Topics
