Travel Insurance Bill Lays Dormant As New York Assembly Prepares To Adjourn

ASTA and New York travel agents are ramping up their campaign to get the New York State Assembly to vote on and pass a bill that would improve the ability for agents to offer travel insurance to clients, and help reduce the risk of fines, before the Assembly adjourns June 16.

ASTA New York state chapters are asking agents to contact their Assembly representative via e-mail, letter and phone. Senate Bill 5363 passed the New York State Senate unanimously on Feb. 29.

As TMR reported May 17, the American Society of Travel Agents and the U.S. Travel Insurance Association (USTIA)have been lobbying New York State legislators to pass Assembly Bill 7971, to replace the “crazy-quilt” of state regulations with a single standard, proposed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL).

Under the NAIC/NCOIL standard, travel agencies could be licensed under their existing insurance provider’s license, as opposed to being licensed themselves in each and every state where they have customers.  Under these standards, because of reciprocity, agents would be free to offer travel insurance, without maintaining costly non-resident licenses, to consumers that reside in the 43 jurisdictions that have already adopted the NAIC standard.

ASTA and the USTIA consider passage in New York a key step in their national effort.