PIANJ-supported bill introduced in state Assembly to clarify contents of certificates of insurance

January 29, 2013

Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer, D-36, who chairs the Assembly Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance, has introduced the model bill regulating certificates of insurance that was unanimously adopted recently by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators.

PIA National was instrumental at NCOIL meetings in winning approval of the model. PIANJ has been seeking Schaer’s support and presented this model legislation to him. The bill, A-3731, would ban changes to certificate forms and would assert that certificates are not insurance policies and don’t provide different or extra coverage than the policy does.

There have been pressures on agents from noninsurance entity-related third parties to issue certificates of insurance that conflict with underlying policy terms.

The bill will be referred to the Assembly Committee chaired by Schaer for consideration at a meeting in the near future.