] is old law to be omitted. LBD14599-04-4A. 9905--A 2 1 ble but uncertain, actions shall be taken to avoid or diminish that 2 harm. 3 (e) "Guidance" means the department guidance for New York domestic 4 insurers on managing the financial risks from climate change issued by 5 the department of financial services. 6 § 9203. Implementing climate leadership and community protection act 7 targets for insurers. (a) The department shall: 8 (1) Integrate the precautionary principle into its regulation and 9 supervision of insurers by: 10 (A) incorporating measures to anticipate, prevent, or minimize the 11 effects of climate risk and its adverse effects; and 12 (B) implementing cost-effective measures to address the climate risk 13 exposure of insurers, even in the absence of full economic or scientific 14 certainty; 15 (2) Align insurer investment and underwriting activities with 16 science-based climate mitigation targets consistent with the emissions 17 limits set in section 75-0107 of the environmental conservation law by 18 prohibiting underwriting for any new fossil fuel project and directing 19 insurers to phase out existing underwriting for exploration, extraction, 20 processing, exporting, transporting, and any other significant action 21 with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any byproduct thereof; and 22 (3) Develop a process for insurance companies to certify as a condi- 23 tion of licensure that they meet certain criteria related to their 24 investment and underwriting activity, and to review their certification. 25 (b) Within twelve months of the effective date of this article, the 26 superintendent shall develop and implement criteria for certain insurers 27 doing business in this state, as determined by the superintendent pursu- 28 ant to subsection (f) of this section, to submit annually to the super- 29 intendent a report disclosing: 30 (1) Such insurer's investments in: 31 (A) any company that derives ten percent or more of revenue from 32 exploration, extraction, processing, exporting, transporting, and any 33 other significant action with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any 34 byproduct thereof; 35 (B) any project intended to facilitate or expand exploration, 36 extraction, processing, exporting, transporting, and any other signif- 37 icant action with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any byproduct 38 thereof; and 39 (C) any project intended to construct any infrastructure related to 40 projects under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, such as wells, pipe- 41 lines, terminals or refineries; 42 (2) The financed emissions from all of the insurer's investments in 43 the previous reporting year; 44 (3) Information concerning such insurer's gross premium underwriting 45 for: 46 (A) any company that derives ten percent or more of revenue from 47 exploration, extraction, processing, exporting, transporting, and any 48 other significant action with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any 49 byproduct thereof; 50 (B) any project intended to facilitate or expand exploration, 51 extraction, processing, exporting, transporting, and any other signif- 52 icant action with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any byproduct 53 thereof; and 54 (C) any project intended to construct any infrastructure related 55 projects under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, such as wells, pipe- 56 lines, terminals or refineries;A. 9905--A 3 1 (4) The insured emissions from all of the insurer's underwriting in 2 the previous reporting year; 3 (5) Aggregated data on homeowners and renters premiums, claims, deduc- 4 tibles and overall insurance exposures, at a census-tract level, in a 5 manner that does not risk public disclosure of personally identifiable 6 information of policyholders; and 7 (6) Any other information the department deems necessary to effec- 8 tively implement and enforce any rule or regulation promulgated pursuant 9 to this article. 10 (c) The criteria developed by the superintendent pursuant to 11 subsection (b) of this section shall enable the superintendent to post 12 the information reported to the superintendent pursuant to subsection 13 (d) of this section on the department's website. 14 (d) Within twelve months of the effective date of this article, and 15 annually thereafter, such insurers doing business in this state, as 16 determined by the superintendent subject to subsection (f) of this 17 section, shall submit a report to the superintendent disclosing the 18 information set forth in subsection (b) of this section for the preced- 19 ing calendar year. 20 (e) Within three months of receiving the report required pursuant to 21 subsection (b) of this section, and annually thereafter, the superinten- 22 dent shall compile and post the information in such report on the 23 department's website. 24 (f) The superintendent may engage the services of attorneys, actuar- 25 ies, accountants and other experts not otherwise a part of the super- 26 intendent's staff, at the reporting insurer's expense, as shall be 27 reasonably necessary to assist in the review of such insurer's filing 28 under subsection (c) of this section. All persons so engaged shall be 29 under the direction and control of the superintendent and shall act in a 30 purely advisory capacity. 31 (g) The superintendent shall subject an insurer to the requirements of 32 this section if: 33 (1) The insurer reports over one hundred million dollars on its annual 34 schedule T filing with the National Association of Insurance Superinten- 35 dents; or 36 (2) The insurer's activities or investments may expose such insurer to 37 a heightened level of risk from the physical or transition effects of 38 climate change; or 39 (3) The superintendent otherwise determines that disclosure would be 40 in the public interest. 41 (h) The superintendent shall review and update the guidance at least 42 once every two years and shall update the guidance to reflect develop- 43 ments elsewhere in the world, with the intent of incorporating emerging 44 best practices and ensuring the smooth functioning of New York insurance 45 markets. 46 (i) The superintendent may adopt such regulations as the superinten- 47 dent deems necessary to carry out the purposes of this article. 48 (j) The superintendent shall develop a process for foreign insurance 49 companies to certify as a condition of licensure that they meet certain 50 criteria related to their investment and underwriting activity, and to 51 review their certification. 52 (k) Within five years of the effective date of this article, the 53 superintendent shall require any insurer doing business in the state to 54 certify that they have divested from: 55 (1) any company that derives ten percent or more of revenue from 56 exploration, extraction, processing, exporting, transporting, and anyA. 9905--A 4 1 other significant action with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any 2 byproduct thereof; 3 (2) any project intended to facilitate or expand exploration, 4 extraction, processing, exporting, transporting, and any other signif- 5 icant action with respect to oil, natural gas, coal, or any byproduct 6 thereof; and 7 (3) any project intended to construct any infrastructure related to 8 projects under paragraph two of this subsection, such as wells, pipe- 9 lines, terminals or refineries. 10 § 9204. Reporting. (a) Within twelve months of the effective date of 11 this article, and once every two years thereafter, the superintendent 12 shall submit a report to the legislature and the governor. The report 13 shall also be made available to the public and posted on the depart- 14 ment's website. The report shall disclose, for the preceding two calen- 15 dar years, the department's: 16 (1) Efforts to implement the provisions of section nine thousand two 17 hundred three of this article; 18 (2) Regulatory and supervisory actions taken, if any, to bolster the 19 resilience of insurers to the physical impacts of climate change; 20 (3) Regulatory and supervisory actions planned, if any, to bolster the 21 resilience of insurers to the physical impacts of climate change; 22 (4) The effects, if any, that the insurers' efforts to address climate 23 risk have had on the affordability and availability of insurance for low 24 income communities, communities of color and other traditionally under- 25 served communities in the state, including communities vulnerable to 26 bluelining as defined in paragraph fifty-six of subsection (a) of 27 section one hundred seven of this chapter. 28 (b) Such report shall also summarize available information regarding: 29 (1) insurer and insurance market readiness for climate change and the 30 energy transition; 31 (2) major sources of climate risk faced by New York insurers; 32 (3) any gaps related to climate risk that the department intends to 33 address; and 34 (4) any legislative action that must be taken in order to allow the 35 department to address climate risk. 36 § 2. Subsections (k) and (l) of section 102 of the financial services 37 law are amended and a new subsection (m) is added to read as follows: 38 (k) To promote the reduction and elimination of fraud, criminal abuse 39 and unethical conduct by, and with respect to, banking, insurance and 40 other financial services institutions and their customers; [and] 41 (l) To educate and protect users of banking, insurance, and financial 42 services products and services through the provision of timely and 43 understandable information[.]; and 44 (m) To identify, supervise, regulate and manage exposure to risk in 45 New York's banking, insurance and financial services industries, includ- 46 ing risks related to climate change. 47 § 3. Subsection (a) of section 107 of the insurance law is amended by 48 adding a new paragraph 56 to read as follows: 49 (56) "Community vulnerable to bluelining" means a census tract that 50 meets the following: 51 (A) qualifies as a low-to-moderate income community under the criteria 52 of the state's community reinvestment act or under the criteria defined 53 in section two thousand three hundred fifty-five of this chapter or 54 qualifies as a disadvantaged community as defined in section 75-0101 of 55 the environmental conservation law and qualifies as a high climate risk 56 community based either on the federal emergency management agency's riskA. 9905--A 5 1 index or other criteria defined in section two thousand three hundred 2 fifty-five of this chapter; or 3 (B) qualifies based on other criteria developed by the department 4 pursuant to section two thousand three hundred fifty-five of this chap- 5 ter. 6 § 4. The insurance law is amended by adding two new sections 2354 and 7 2355 to read as follows: 8 § 2354. Protecting communities from bluelining. (a) The superintendent 9 shall have the authority to place a moratorium on non-renewals in under- 10 served communities that have been affected by a climate disaster in the 11 last year. 12 (b) No insurer shall refuse to issue or renew or shall cancel a policy 13 of property and casualty insurance based solely on the insured residing 14 in an area that is designated as a community vulnerable to bluelining 15 pursuant to paragraph fifty-six of subsection (a) of section one hundred 16 seven or section two thousand three hundred fifty-five of this chapter. 17 Such prohibition shall not preclude an insurer from refusing to issue or 18 renew or from canceling such policies based on sound underwriting and 19 actuarial principles reasonably related to actual or anticipated loss 20 experience subject to the applicable provisions of this section and of 21 section three thousand four hundred twenty-five of this chapter. 22 (c) No insurer shall refuse to issue or renew or shall cancel a policy 23 of property and casualty insurance based solely on the insured's source 24 of income, including the use of housing vouchers. 25 § 2355. Identification of communities vulnerable to bluelining. (a) In 26 addition to those communities which qualify as communities vulnerable to 27 bluelining pursuant to paragraph fifty-six of subsection (a) of section 28 one hundred seven of this chapter, the department shall establish crite- 29 ria and a process to identify new communities vulnerable to bluelining. 30 (1) Such criteria shall identify communities vulnerable to bluelining 31 based on geographic, public health, environmental hazard, and socioeco- 32 nomic criteria, which shall include, but are not limited to: 33 (A) areas burdened by cumulative environmental pollution and other 34 hazards that can lead to negative public health effects; 35 (B) areas with concentrations of people that are of low income, high 36 unemployment, high rent burden, low levels of home ownership, low levels 37 of educational attainment, or members of groups that have historically 38 experienced discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity; 39 (C) areas vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as flood- 40 ing, storm surges, and urban heat island effects; and 41 (D) any additional criteria that the department may identify. 42 (2) Before finalizing the criteria for identifying communities vulner- 43 able to bluelining pursuant to paragraph one of this subsection, the 44 department shall publish draft criteria and a draft list of communities 45 vulnerable to bluelining and make such information available on its 46 website. 47 (b) The department shall annually review the criteria, process, and 48 methods used to identify communities vulnerable to bluelining and shall 49 modify such methods to incorporate new data and scientific findings. 50 (c) The department shall regularly review the identities of communi- 51 ties vulnerable to bluelining and modify such identities as needed. 52 § 5. Subsection (d) of section 3425 of the insurance law is amended by 53 adding a new paragraph 4 to read as follows: 54 (4) With respect to cancellation of policies in communities vulnerable 55 to bluelining pursuant to paragraph fifty-six of subsection (a) of 56 section one hundred seven or section two thousand three hundred fifty-A. 9905--A 6 1 five of this chapter, in addition to the requirements contained in para- 2 graph one of this subsection, unless the insurer, at least one year in 3 advance of the end of the policy period, mails or delivers to the named 4 insured, at the address shown in the policy, a written notice of its 5 intention not to renew a covered policy, or to condition its renewal 6 upon change of limits or elimination of any coverages, the named insured 7 shall be entitled to renew the policy upon timely payment of the premium 8 billed to the insured for the renewal. 9 § 6. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 215 to read 10 as follows: 11 § 215. Rating and affordability improvement study. (a) The department 12 shall conduct a study on methods for keeping property and casualty 13 insurance lines affordable for communities vulnerable to bluelining, 14 including the consideration of homeowner mitigation in premium discounts 15 and non-renewal and cancellations decisions, assistance programs for 16 low-income policyholders similar to those proposed for the national 17 flood insurance program, and a tax on homeowners insurance lines that 18 declines into a rebate based on income. 19 (b) Within twelve months of the effective date of this section, the 20 department shall issue a report on their findings which shall provide 21 recommendations for regulatory and legislative actions relating to 22 affordable insurance lines in communities vulnerable to bluelining. 23 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.