IIABNY Joins Discussions on Excess Lines Reforms
(June 28, 2007)  — A proposal to relieve governmental burdens on insurance producers was on the agenda this week as IIABNY met with other insurance groups in Albany. Director of Research & External Communications Tim Dodge joined the June 25 session organized by the Excess Line Association of New York.

Over the past few years, ELANY, IIABNY and other groups have urged the New York State Insurance Department to conduct a hearing on reform of the so-called “export list.” This is the list of types of coverage and classes of business for which producers need not obtain declinations from admitted insurers before placing them with excess line insurers. Excess flood insurance, property coverage for amusement parks and carnivals, and liability coverage for armed security guards are among the classes on the list. The Insurance Department has not amended it since its creation in the mid-1990s.

The groups are proposing that the department expand the list to include construction contractors, fire and allied lines coverages for vacant property and commercial property within one mile of the ocean or navigable waterways, jumbo property risks and several others. By law, the Insurance Department must conduct a hearing before taking action on the list, and state Superintendent of Insurance Eric Dinallo recently told an ELANY gathering that he intends to call the hearing. Adoption of the proposal would free agents and brokers from having to submit these risks to insurers who are unlikely to want them. Large numbers of IIABNY members have long reported that virtually none of their carriers have significant underwriting appetites for construction risks.

The members of the group plan to jointly ask the superintendent to set a hearing date for as early as this fall.

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