In the early morning of June 18, 2025, the New York Legislature finally adjourned. The last 10 days of the session were an absolute tornado of public policy activity, including proposals that we thought were dead that came back to life like zombies. This session closed with some wins but left us with a slew of challenging bills, and we will be advocating for chapter amendments or straight-up vetoes.
The tort climate and regulatory environment were squarely in the crosshairs and part of the end-of-session fallout. Below is a thumbnail sketch of the issues that remained unresolved, and it may provide line of sight to the variety of matters pending. These bills have passed the legislature and will need to be advocated on between now and the end of the year.
Please recall that the legislature has until the end of December to send these bills to the Governor’s desk, and none of the below are currently before her. We will continue to work with the state trades (including NYIA, who helped prepare this list), our tort reform coalition, the healthcare community, and business partners.
Wins
On the budget front, earlier this spring we were pleased with full funding for the Medical Indemnity Fund (MIF) ($200M). This did not include program changes; we expect that there will be discussions in the future about modifying the fund to address its budget challenges. The legislature proposed the creation of an MIF Ombudsman office, but that did not pass. Regarding Section 18 excess coverage funding, the budget contained full funding for the annual budget and did not include any of the proposed changes to the reimbursement mechanism. Importantly, these two budget items were resolved in great part to the high level of engagement by Healthcare Risk Advisors’ Peter Kolbert, Rich Caldwell, and Rob Kauffman. They spent several hours working out the numbers and participating in numerous legislative meetings as we advocated for these two very important programs.
Oppose
- Wrongful Death (A6063 Lunsford/S4423 Hoylman-Sigal). Same bill as 2024. It expands beneficiaries and the types of damages that may be awarded to the persons for whose benefit an action for wrongful death is brought, as well as changes the statute of limitations. We oppose and will seek a fourth veto of the proposal.
- FAIR/UDAP (A8427A Lasher/S8416 Comrie). This bill was pursued by the attorney general and expands what the state believes to be unfair, deceptive, and abusive business acts and practices; includes private right of action. We oppose and will seek a veto or chapter amendments.
- Third Party Recovery (A3351 Dinowitz/S5170 Skoufis). This proposal permits a plaintiff to recover against a third-party defendant. We oppose and will seek a veto or chapter amendments.
- New York Health Information Privacy Act (A2141 Rosenthal/S929 Krueger). This bill governs companies that collect and sell personal information and limits the use and sale of that information. We oppose and will seek a veto or chapter amendments.
- Consent to Jurisdiction (A8303 Lunsford/S8186 Gianaris). This provides that a foreign corporation's application for authority to do business in this state constitutes consent to jurisdiction of the courts of this state. We oppose and will seek a veto.
- Impleading to Delay (A8728 Lunsford/S8071A Addabbo). This enacts the avoiding vexatious overuse of impleading to delay (AVOID) act. Essentially, this bill applies to third-party defendants and compresses time periods. We oppose and will seek a veto.
- Tort Settlement (A8706 Waker/S8185 Salazar). This bill prohibits certain entities from negotiating any contracts or settlements, releasing such entities from liability for a tortious or potentially tortious act within 30 days of such an act. We oppose and will seek a veto.
- Increased Financial Sanctions (A3858 Rozic/S2551 Myrie). This proposes to increase the fines imposed on a corporation for an offense defined within the penal laws. We oppose this bill and will advocate for its veto.
Support/Neutral
- Lawsuit Lending (A804C Magnarelli/S1104A Cooney). This bill enacts the consumer litigation funding act to promote consumer protections related to consumer litigation funding transactions. We support the underlying effort but are advocating for chapter amendments.
- MPL Free Trade Zone (A8413 Steck/S8343 Bailey). This bill extends the minimum surplus-to-policyholder ratio required of medical malpractice insurers, from June 30, 2025, to June 30, 2027. We support this bill, and it was signed into law by the Governor as Chapter 146 (2025).
- Free Trade Zone Modernization (general) (A3888 Weprin/S4960 Bailey). This bill extends the exemption from filing requirements only with respect to rates and policy forms to businesses underwritten and transacted from an office outside this state. We support this bill and will advocate for its signature.
- Risk Based Capital for Medical Malpractice Insurance (A6595 Weprin/S7221 Bailey). This bill extends the risk-based capital exemption for medical malpractice insurers to 2028. We are neutral and expect it will be signed.
- Electronic Records (A3028 Dilan/S4674A Jackson). This bill allows domestic insurers to make certain records available by electronic means if they are easily accessible from the insurer's principal office in this state. We, along with the state trades, are neutral.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bills of Note
There are bills related to AI that may be of interest:
- Training of AI (A6453B Bores/S6953B Gounardes). This bill relates to the training and use of AI frontier models. It is opposed and veto or chapter amendments may be sought.
- AI Disclosure (A8887B/S8240 Gianaris). This bill requires advertisements to disclose the use of a synthetic performer. It is opposed and veto or chapter amendments may be sought.
Have Questions?
Please contact Remi Stone, Esq., Assistant Vice President, Government Relations, at (707) 226-0160 or by email.