Nov 25, 2014
Governor signs, vetoes insurance legislation
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed 47 bills and vetoed 41 others on Nov. 21. Among the insurance-related proposals were the following:
A.8630-A Crespo-Relates to accurate reporting of crime statistics and excludes certain crime statistics from consideration when making rates of insurance. 11/21/14 vetoed memo.497
A.9154-A Cymbrowitz-Relates to accelerated death benefits under a life insurance policy and the right of the policy owner or certificate holder to rescind the request for such payments at any time during the process of application for said benefits. 11/21/14 signed chap.448
A.9175-A Braunstein-Relates to the definition of "doing an insurance business" in the state. 11/21/14 signed chap.449
A.9346-A Morelle (MS)-Relates to court-ordered appraisals under fire insurance policies. 11/21/14 signed chap.451
A.9915 Rules (Cahill)-Relates to the life insurance company guaranty corporation of New York. 11/21/14 signed chap.454
S.6672-A Klein-Directs the Department of Financial Assistance to establish a public-awareness program on the availability of long-term health-care insurance, the financing of that and the provision of tax credits for premiums paid for it; accelerates payment of death benefits and special surrender values upon receipt of the insured of end-of-life or palliative care. 11/21/14 signed chap.465
With these 47 recent actions, Gov. Cuomo has so far approved 92 percent of the legislation that came before him in 2014, although he did not veto any before the Nov. 4 Election Day. While the percentage of approvals is not unusual, the governors timetable for deciding the fate of passed legislation is. Under previous governors, legislation that was not delivered to the governor until the waning months of the year was more likely to be vetoed. Between 2005 and 2010, 18.25 percent of bills on which executive action was taken before Election Day were vetoed. Bills acted on between the election and the end of the year were vetoed 26.73 percent of the time, according to the analysis. Under Cuomo, this discrepancy has grown. In the first three years of his administration, 8.1 percent of the legislation brought to his desk by early November were vetoed, compared with 37.13 percent later in the year. Excluding line items, Cuomo issued no vetoes before the 2014 general election, signing each of the 424 bills that crossed his desk. Since the election, he vetoed 43.75 percent of the 96 bills before him. The increased trend of delaying decisions that would upset the bills supporters until after session ends corresponds with a broader pattern of delaying executive action until the last two months of the year.
There does not appear to be a strong correlation between the legislative support for a piece of legislation and the chances Gov. Cuomo will veto it. The bills Gov. Cuomo has vetoed this month received an average of 97.69 percent of votes in the Assembly; the ones he signed into law received 96.73 percent support. In the Senate, the bills he signed received 98.05 percent of the vote; those he vetoed received an average of 97.38 percent of the vote. Twenty-nine of the 42 bills he has vetoed passed at least one house unanimously.
Certificates of insurance
PIANYs top-priority certificates of insurance reform bill (A.9590 Morelle/S.6545-A Seward) has yet to be sent to the governor. Based on the statistics above, its timing does not bode well for its success, but theres still time to write Gov. Cuomo a letter on your agencys letterhead and help PIANY show strong, broad-based support for this important bill if you havent done so already.
The bill requires the use of an ACORD certificate form (with limited exceptions) and provides that no person or governmental entity shall request or require, prepare or issue a certificate of insurance that such person knows does not accurately state the terms of coverage provided by the policy; or purports to alter, amend, extend or misrepresent the terms of coverage to which the certificate makes reference; or purports to confer to any person new or additional rights beyond what the referenced policy of insurance expressly provides. Essentially, the bill requires a certificate to be a true and accurate representation of the policy.