2020 has been a tumultuous year, and the IA community faced many challenges. In a time of crisis, our advocacy efforts on your behalf are crucial. Here’s how Big I New York had your back in Albany and Washington D.C. this year:
Defeated A Regulatory Power Grab:
In January 2020, the Governor announced an executive budget which would expand the NYS Department of Financial Services' (DFS) authority to levy fines and penalties against insurance agents and brokers, as well as substantially increases possible fines. Big I NY met with key legislators in the Senate and Assembly, and deployed an aggressive grassroots lobbying campaign, culminating in our Independent Agents Advocacy Day in March. Ultimately, we were successful in blocking all harmful proposals from the final budget.
Stood Up for You and Your Customers During COVID
The effects of the pandemic and the state's ongoing response created an ever-changing and often confusing policy landscape. Big I NY was a constant advocate for common sense policies to help you and you and your customers weather the storm.
As the scale of the impact of the pandemic in NY became evident, we called on the DFS to adopt several measures to protect independent agents' ability to assist their customers, including suspending the auto photo inspection requirement (Regulation 79), and creating a grace period for continuing education (CE) and license renewal. Ultimately the DFS concurred, allowing agents to renew their license without CE in place, and waiving in-person monitoring requirements for CE classes and licensing exams. Recently, the elimination of the in-person monitoring requirement was made permanent.
When the Governor first announced occupancy restrictions, Big I NY successfully called for insurance agencies to be deemed essential.
Following Executive Order 202.16, the DFS issued an emergency regulation imposing a moratorium on cancellations and non-renewals for non-payment, as well as establishing a grace period for premium repayment. Initially, the regulation contained an extremely burdensome requirement that producers notify all of their customers by mail of the new changes. Big I NY successfully urged the department to change course, and allow these notices to be provided electronically and without prior consent. We also called for the policyholder protections to be extended to all excess policies, but this was ultimately unsuccessful.
Beginning in March, Big I NY launched a grassroots advocacy campaign which successfully opposed devastating state and federal retroactive business interruption coverage mandates. This campaign involved dozens of virtual meetings between member agents and state and congressional representatives, as well as meetings with legislative leadership and chairs of the Senate and Assembly insurance committees. This issue remains a key legislative priority for 2021. Big I NY members urged our state's congressional delegation to help small businesses by supporting the federal Business Continuity Protection Plan.
Looking Forward: What's on the Horizon for IA's?
With two highly effective vaccines now approved, there is light at the end of the COVID tunnel; but we are unlikely to return to any sort of normalcy until mid-2021 or later. In the meantime, we are in the midst of a second surge, and New York faces a massive budget deficit.
In the immediate future, we are likely to see a host of new “revenue raisers" put forward by New York elected officials. We are prepared to oppose any efforts to expand fines, fees, and penalties on independent agents, and expect to continue the fight against misguided business interruption bills. We are also optimistic that the coming year will bring new interest in eliminating outdated and burdensome regulations, such as the photo inspection regulation and anti-arson application.
If 2020 taught us one thing, it's that you never know just what the future holds. But there's one thing you can be sure of: no matter what, we'll have your back.