November 2019:
A record year for anti-fraud legislation is coming to a close. What many suspected to be a slow legislative year has now resulted in 60 new anti-fraud laws protecting U.S. consumers. Since our last report, we have secured major victories in New York with passage of bills making participating in a staged accident a specific crime and we continue to await forwarding to the governor of our storm-chaser bill calling for increased oversight of contractors. Special thanks goes to the New York Insurance Association (NYIA) for their efforts on these important bills. We have also seen a record number of states pass new laws overseeing public adjusters. These bills single-handedly account for the largest number of new laws in 2019. While many legislatures have adjourned for the year, we continue to actively support pending legislation in Ohio for roofing contractor/storm-chaser reforms. The bill is filed but still awaits setting of initial committee hearings. In New Jersey we are partnering with the Insurance Council in opposition to a bill which would dramatically change the state’s bad faith laws. While the Coalition supports law mandating insurers act with the utmost of good faith, the proposed legislation may well have a chilling impact on insurers being willing to run the risk of fully investigating potential fraud and electing instead to simply pay the claims and pass the cost along to the state’s residents. We are also preparing our 2020 Legislative Priorities list as bills begin to be pre-filed for next year’s legislative sessions.