Legislation that will require owners of handguns who carry in public to purchase liability insurance has been signed into the law. As previously reported, the Legislature worked quickly to pass this new law, P.L. 2022, C.131. Originally, the legislation was introduced...
N.Y.: DFS issues guidance on cannabis-related criminal convictions and underwriting
The New York State Department of Financial Services issued a circular letter last week to provide guidance to the insurance industry on cannabis-related criminal convictions and insurance underwriting. Under New York state law, it is illegal for any person or entity...
N.Y.: Governor vetoes photo inspection legislation
In a stunning move, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed PIANY’s top-priority photo inspection legislation (A.6877/S.6028) yesterday. The legislation would have made New York’s outdated photo inspection requirements optional. The governor acted quickly on this bill. It...
Conn./N.H./Vt.: New England’s midterm results
Connecticut’s, New Hampshire’s, and Vermont’s midterm results helped bolster the Democrats nationally, helped the Republicans keep two gubernatorial seats, and had strong turnouts across the three states. The Democrats held onto all the Senate seats up for election in...
N.Y. elections: Democrats hold on to state-wide offices, likely to lose seats in the Legislature
The results of this election look a lot like most elections in New York state for the past 10 years. This year, Democrats won the state-wide positions of governor, comptroller, and attorney general, and hold comfortable majorities in both the Assembly and the State....
What makes a contractor independent?
Currently, the U.S. Department of Labor is accepting comments on a proposed regulation to determine whether an independent contractor is an independent contractor for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It’s the latest step in the DOL’s efforts to roll back the...
Part VII: The do’s and don’ts of advocacy
Now that we have talked about what the various types of advocacy and how you can give of your time or money to candidates or parties you support, we should review some general do’s and don’ts before you go out and advocate for issues you support or against those who...
Part VI: Advocacy tips for meetings
In our last advocacy article, we talked about what to do when you call or send a letter to your elected representatives. While these methods of communication are vital to a well-rounded advocacy strategy, and they are certainly the best method when time is of the...
Part V: Advocacy tips for letters/email
For this installment of our advocacy series, we are going to talk about best practices when you write a letter or an email to your legislators. While snail mail and electronic mail are different mediums, they are essentially both a letter, so the rules for writing...
PIANY top-priority photo inspection bill heads to governor’s desk, get ready to call
The New York state Senate just passed S.6028, 56-7, sponsored by Sen. Neil D. Breslin, D-44. This bill would make photo inspections of private passenger automobiles optional. Currently, many consumers are required to get a photo inspection of their vehicle within 14...