PIANY-priority legislation, A.950—sponsored by Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato, D-23—was reported out of the state Assembly Insurance Committee yesterday.

The bill would require the superintendent of financial services to establish uniformity in the triggering and operation of windstorm deductibles. The standardization of these triggering events would promote a clear understanding for policyholders on how their policy will cover them if their houses are damaged by windstorms.

However, while this bill would standardize the deductible trigger, it would not standardize the deductible. Insurance carriers’ would maintain the ability to allocate hurricane risk and would be able to adjust deductibles freely.

Many policyholders are unaware that different insurance companies have different windstorm triggers. Ultimately, it is the triggering event that determines whether a windstorm deductible applies to a policyholder’s loss and therefore, the windstorm trigger can have affect homeowners’ out-of-pocket costs substantially.

PIANY advocates for the standardization of windstorm-deductible triggers. This bill is one of PIANY’s 2021 legislative priorities. Track this and other bills with the PIAdvocacy bill tracker.