Repeals section 3403 of the insurance law relating to anti-arson applications

• Democratic9
• Republican1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why James Sanders Jr. says this is needed

In 1981 when New York first enacted its anti-arson application law (originally section 168-j of the insurance law, now section 3403), arson for profit was a significant economic and societal problem. New York's anti-arson application law was enacted to give insurers ownership and property valuation information to assist in the investigation of arson for profit and to require property owners to sign a fraud statement. However, present-day arson investigation techniques no longer rely on the anti-arson application form to determine ownership and property valuation and fraud statements are collected through other means when adjusting a loss. Insurers have access to a multitude of third-party sources to determine ownership and property values. Since the informa- tion collected on the form is no longer used, completing and collecting the form (which is required for both new and renewed insurance poli- cies)creates a significant burden for both consumers and insurers. Consumers suffer because completing the form is burdensome and insurance carriers must cancel in force policies when the form is not returned, which means that the policyholder may be without coverage. Furthermore, consumers hear the ultimate administrative cost of having insurers rein- state policies that have been cancelled when they fail to renew the anti-arson application. Insurers are burdened by the inordinate amount of time spent tracking down the anti-arson application from property owners. Recognizing that the reason that this law was originally enacted no longer exists, both Rochester and Buffalo repealed the law in recent years.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.