New York Assembly Bill A03888

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/30/25
• Refer: 1/30/25
• Report Pass: 5/20/25
• Refer: 5/20/25
• Report Pass: 6/16/25

Caption

Relates to extending the exemption from filing requirements only with respect to rates and policy forms to businesses underwritten and transacted from an office outside this state.

Summary

A03888 amends the New York Insurance Law to expand an existing exemption from certain filing requirements for insurance rates and policy forms. Under current law, the exemption is tied in part to the business being underwritten and transacted from an office within New York; this bill removes that in-state office requirement for the exemption to apply. The exemption would still be limited to specified categories of business, including risks with annual premium above a threshold, unusual or hard-to-place risks, and, through June 30, 2027, policies issued to large commercial insureds that use a special risk manager. The bill also preserves a safeguard for policy forms that have not previously been filed: even when the exemption applies, such forms must still be filed with the Superintendent for informational purposes within three business days after first delivery of the policy, and no later than 60 days after the policy begins. The measure takes effect immediately and is framed as a targeted change to streamline regulatory treatment for certain large or specialized commercial insurance placements, especially those involving out-of-state underwriting or transaction offices.

Impact

The bill would amend Insurance Law section 6303 to broaden eligibility for the exemption from rate and policy form filing requirements by eliminating the requirement that the business be underwritten and transacted from an office within New York. This change would affect insurers, surplus lines or other exempt commercial placements, large commercial insureds, and special risk managers by making the exemption available even when the underwriting office is outside the state, while leaving the existing premium, risk-type, and special-risk-manager conditions in place. It would also continue to require informational filing of previously unfiled policy forms within the stated deadlines.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests broad support and little visible opposition. The Assembly Insurance Committee advanced the bill unanimously, and the Assembly Rules Committee also reported it favorably with unanimous votes. No committee transcript is available, but the vote pattern indicates the measure was viewed as a technical or industry-specific regulatory adjustment rather than a controversial policy shift.

Contention

The main policy issue is the removal of the New York office requirement, which may be seen by supporters as reducing unnecessary administrative barriers for specialized commercial insurance placements and by critics as loosening state oversight over exempt transactions. Another point of interest is the temporary extension through June 30, 2027 for large commercial insureds using a special risk manager, which suggests the bill is partly a continuation of an existing pilot or transitional framework. No recorded committee debate is available, so no named opponents or specific objections are documented in the provided materials.