NY State Senate Bill 2023-S6685

Senate Bill S6685

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Prohibits motor vehicle insurers from discrimination on the basis of socioeconomic factors in determining algorithms used to construct actuarial tables, coverage terms, premiums and/or rates

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Insurance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to insurance
May 04, 2023	referred to insurance

co-Sponsors

2023-S6685 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Insurance
Law Section:: Insurance Law
Laws Affected:: Add §2618, Ins L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S7904
2017-2018: S2854
2019-2020: S7667
2021-2022: S5904

2023-S6685 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits motor vehicle insurers from discrimination on the basis of socioeconomic factors in determining algorithms used to construct actuarial tables, coverage terms, premiums and/or rates.

2023-S6685 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6685

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to prohibiting motor
vehicle insurers from discriminating based on socioeconomic factors

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

Prohibits motor vehicle insurers from discrimination on the basis of
socioeconomic factors in determining algorithms used to construct actu-
arial tables, coverage terms, premiums and or rates.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1: The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 2618.

Section 2: This act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In order to comply with New York State law a person operating a car must
have limited liability auto insurance. Currently, auto insurers doing
business may use any range of factors to determine premiums which leads
to adverse treatment of low-to moderate-income drivers.

In the State of New York, insurance companies are using factors other
than a driver's experience and driving record to calculate a drivers'
premium. Insurers use a wide range of socioeconomic and non-driving
factors to determine a driver's premium. Insurers use credit scores,
occupation, level of educational attainment, marital status, and
homeownership in addition to already prohibited factors such as age and
sex. Some insurance companies even use consumer data to determine wheth-
er a customer is likely to shop around, and then sets prices for its
policies accordingly. Using socioeconomic and non-driving factors that
are not inherently related to a person's ability to operate a car, safe-
ly, forces good drivers who are of lower socioeconomic status to pay
more for our State's obligatory auto insurance. By using rating factors
such as these, good drivers of lower socioeconomic status are not treat-
ed equally in the auto insurance market place.

The Western New York Law Center, among other state and national organ-
izations, has conducted research looking into the impact of socioeconom-
ic factors on auto insurance premiums for New York Drivers. The Western
New York Law Center recently did a study that examined over 5,000 rate
quotes for drivers in Western New York. They found that a woman with a
lower socioeconomic status pays as much as 227.11% more for limited
liability auto insurance than a driver with the same driving record and
a high socioeconomic status. A man with a lower socioeconomic status is
charged 174.26% more for limited liability auto insurance than a driver
with the same driving record and a high socioeconomic status. Simply
put, when all driving related factors are held constant, drivers with
lower levels of education, occupational status, marital status, and
renters all pay between 1.74 to 2.27 times as much for auto insurance as
their higher status peers.  It is time to stop allowing these rating
practices that aid in perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: S5904 - Referred to Insurance

2019-20: S.7667- Referred to Insurance

2017: S. 2854 referred to Insurance

2016: S.7904 - Referred to Insurance

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately

2023-S6685 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6685
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 4, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Insurance
 
 AN ACT to amend the insurance law,  in  relation  to  prohibiting  motor
   vehicle insurers from discriminating based on socioeconomic factors
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The insurance law is amended by adding a new  section  2618
 to read as follows:
   § 2618. RATING FACTORS PROHIBITED. (A) ANY INSURER OR INSURANCE COMPA-
 NY  GROUP DOING BUSINESS IN THE STATE AS A MOTOR VEHICLE INSURER MAY NOT
 USE CLASSIFICATION PLANS, RULES OR RATES, RATING PLANS OR  MODIFICATIONS
 OF ANY OF THE FOREGOING, BASED IN WHOLE OR IN PART ON THE FACTORS SPECI-
 FIED  IN  THIS SECTION. ANY CLASSIFICATION PLANS, RULES OR RATES, RATING
 PLANS OR MODIFICATIONS ISSUED BY SAID INSURER OR INSURANCE COMPANY GROUP
 USING THE FOLLOWING FACTORS IN WHOLE OR  IN  PART  SHALL  BE  DEEMED  TO
 VIOLATE  PUBLIC POLICY AND ARE SUBJECT TO DISAPPROVAL BY THE SUPERINTEN-
 DENT:
   (1) AGE;
   (2) MARITAL STATUS;
   (3) SEX;
   (4) SEXUAL ORIENTATION;
   (5) EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND OR EDUCATION LEVEL ATTAINED;
   (6) EMPLOYMENT STATUS OR OCCUPATION;
   (7) INCOME LEVEL;
   (8) CONSUMER CREDIT INFORMATION OR SCORE;
   (9) OWNERSHIP OR INTEREST IN REAL PROPERTY;
   (10) ANY INDICATION OF A CONSUMER'S PRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMAND; AND
   (11) ANY OTHER CHARACTERISTIC INDICATING OR TENDING  TO  INDICATE  THE
 SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OF AN INDIVIDUAL.
   (B)  IT SHALL FURTHER BE UNLAWFUL TO CONSIDER THE FACTORS SPECIFIED IN
 SUBDIVISION (A) OF THIS SECTION TO:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00061-01-3

 S. 6685                             2
 
   (1) ADJUST ANY ALGORITHM  OR  EQUATION  USED  TO  CONSTRUCT  ACTUARIAL
 TABLES OR OTHERWISE DETERMINE THE COST OF COVERAGE;
   (2)  MAKE  ANY DISTINCTION OR DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN PERSONS AS TO THE
 PREMIUMS OR RATES CHARGED FOR MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE  POLICIES  OR  THE
 TERMS OF COVERAGE OR IN ANY OTHER MANNER WHATSOEVER;
   (3)  DEMAND  OR  REQUIRE  A  GREATER PREMIUM FROM ANY PERSON THAN SUCH
 INSURER REQUIRES AT THAT TIME FROM  OTHER  INDIVIDUALS  OR  ENTITIES  IN
 SIMILAR CASES; OR
   (4)  REFUSE TO ISSUE, RENEW, OR SELL A POLICY AFTER APPROPRIATE APPLI-
 CATION THEREFOR.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S6685

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Kevin S. Parker