Senate Bill S8174

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8174

SPONSOR: MARTINEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to direct reimbursement
of certain local educational agencies for claims of violations of the
child victims act

 
PURPOSE:

Allow for local educational agencies who had insurance policies which
are now insolvent to access the liquidation bureau funds for the purpose
of paying liabilities and/or settlements related to the child victims
act.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Adds new section 7438 to the insurance law to allow local
educational agencies found liable or who have enter into a settlement
agreements as a result of the child victims act set forth in chapter
eleven of the laws of two thousand nineteen and can prove they had
              

insurance policies at the time of incident which are now insolvent, can
make an application to the liquidation bureau who shall cover the cost
in full, and gives the commissioner the power to promulgate policies and
procedures to implement the provisions of this section.

Section 2. Is the effective date

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Child Victims Act (CVA) has helped many New Yorkers get compensation
for atrocious crimes they have had to suffer as children. While the CVA
was enacted in good faith and has helped many, some local educational
agencies have been saddled with substantial settlements and verdicts
they cannot pay without raising taxes substantially or cutting services.
What is troubling is most local educational agencies carried insurance
to protect them against these kinds of claims at the time these inci-
dents occurred, but cannot submit a claim because the insurance they
used are now insolvent. The liquidation bureau receives no funds from
taxpayers and its statutorily defined duty is to protect the interests
of the policyholders and creditors of insurance companies that have been
declared impaired or insolvent; unfortunately, many CVA cases fall out
of the bureau's current window to file a claim. This bill seeks to reme-
dy the burden some schools face by allowing them to submit applications
to the states liquidation bureau to cover the cost of liabilities
incurred as a result of CVA cases, as long as they can provide proof
they had insurance at the time the incidents took place. Children should
not have their education impacted by the crimes of bad actors and CVA
victims deserve full compensation for the traumatic crimes they experi-
enced.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
has become law.