Bill Text: NY S07138 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Restricts insurers from demanding intrusive personal, financial and tax information from insureds as a standard practice in processing ordinary theft claims where no special circumstances warranting a demand for such information exists.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-08 - PRINT NUMBER 7138A [S07138 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S07138-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         7138--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      May 18, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance  --  recommitted
          to the Committee on Insurance in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8
          --  committee  discharged,  bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
          and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to  restricting  insurers
          from  demanding intrusive personal, financial and tax information from
          insureds as a standard practice in processing ordinary theft claims

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 2619
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 2619. Intrusive requests for personal, financial  and  tax  informa-
     4  tion;  ordinary theft claims. (a) It shall be an unfair claim settlement
     5  act or practice under paragraphs three and four  of  subsection  (a)  of
     6  section  two thousand six hundred one of this article for an insurer, in
     7  the course of investigating or settling a theft claim, to demand of  its
     8  insured personal, financial and tax information unless special articula-
     9  ble  circumstances  have  been  discovered  which directly relate to the
    10  particular individual facts of such theft and which warrant  the  making
    11  of  such demand for the specific purpose of determining if such claim is
    12  fraudulent.
    13    (b) As used in this section, a demand for personal, financial and  tax
    14  information  is  a demand that any of the following material or informa-
    15  tion be provided:
    16    (1) copies of the insured's personal and business tax returns;
    17    (2) permits or licenses which the insured  holds  in  New  York  state
    18  other than those for operating a motor vehicle;
    19    (3) loan applications which the insured filed;

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00825-03-4
        S. 7138--A                          2

     1    (4)  statement setting forth the county and state in which the insured
     2  has been registered to vote over a period of time, other than  from  his
     3  or her present residence;
     4    (5)  copies  of  any bank statements of banks in which the insured has
     5  accounts;
     6    (6) copies of any "doing business as" certificates or certificates  of
     7  incorporation for any business the insured owns; or
     8    (7)  information  or material of a similar personal, financial, tax or
     9  private nature which the superintendent by regulation finds to be intru-
    10  sive or which constitutes an unwarranted  invasion  of  privacy  in  the
    11  context of a standard or ordinary theft claim.
    12    §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
    13  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.  Effective  immediate-
    14  ly,  the  addition,  amendment and/or repeal of any rules or regulations
    15  necessary for the implementation of the foregoing section of this act on
    16  its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or  before
    17  such effective date.