The legislature has passed a one-year extension of New YorkState's FAIR Plan property insurance pool, avoiding its usualpractice of letting the program expire and creating chaos forpolicyholders.

Approval came Tuesday just days before the June 30 sunset datefor the plan known as the New York Property Insurance UnderwritingAssociation (NYPIUA). Republican Gov. George Pataki is expected tosign the measure.

Chris Olli, an aide to Assemblyman Alexander Grannis,D-Manhattan, chairman of the Assembly's Insurance Committee, saidthe Assembly passed the one-year extension of NYPIUA Monday and theSenate passed it the following day.

In past years, NYPIUA has frequently been allowed to sunset andthen been resuscitated in a continuing conflict between theDemocratic-led Assembly and Republican-controlled Senate.

Mr. Grannis continues to push a bill (A. 750) to make NYPIUApermanent–a proposition which has overwhelming support in theAssembly but has met resistance in the Senate.

New York is one of only two states that does not have apermanent FAIR plan to act as a home and business insurer of lastresort.

NYPIUA offers basic property coverage to some 57,000 New Yorkhome and business owners who can't get private insurance because oflocation, age or condition of the property. The majority of theNYPIUA book of business comes from regions in New York City andLong Island where the registered voters are primarily Democrat.