New York's Assembly Insurance Committee chairman, Assemblyman Pete Grannis, D-Manhattan, has begun a campaign to extend the state's FAIR Plan property insurance pool before it reaches its expiration date at month's end.
The legislation for the plan known as the New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association has frequently been allowed to sunset and then been resuscitated in a continuing conflict between the Democratic-led Assembly and Republican-controlled Senate.
Statutory authorization for NYPIUA "is set to expire on June 30, 2005, a week after the state legislature is scheduled to adjourn," Mr. Grannis noted in his statement.
Mr. Grannis is pushing a bill (A. 750) to make NYPIUA permanent, a proposition which was passed unanimously by the Assembly in the current legislative session. But the Senate has been resisting giving NYPIUA the permanent status.
NYPIUA, New York's home and business insurer of last resort, offers basic property coverage to some 57,000 New York home and business owners who can't get private insurance because of location, age or condition of the property. The majority of the NYPIUA book of business comes from Democratic-heavy regions in New York City and Long Island.
"The Senate has shown no indication it intends to act...to make this vital program permanent," Sen. Grannis said, "nor has it introduced legislation to extend NYPIUA's authorization."
This is not the first time New York lawmakers fought over NYPIUA as it approached its expiration date. Last year, NYPIUA had ceased operations for 53 days as its authority ended, before lawmakers agreed to bring it back to life.
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