New York State is grappling with a growing number of fraudulent insurance claims arising from staged construction accidents, leading to greatly inflated construction costs across the state. Construction projects in New York already pay the highest insurance costs in the country. Contractors and developers have become encumbered with increasing insurance premiums which are ultimately passed down to consumers and result in higher housing expenses for New Yorkers.

This legislation, A.8981 (Weprin) / S.8413 (BRESLIN),  will make the staging of a construction site accident for the purposes of insurance fraud a class E felony. The enhanced severity of such a crime will deter the “bad actors” who engage in this type of insurance fraud.

This legislation would help to stem insurance fraud abuse, which is a primary cause of the housing crisis. This legislation would help to alleviate the skyrocketing costs of housing and development, and therefore benefit all New Yorkers.

We urge you to send this email to your legislators, asking them to support the passage of A.8981 (Weprin) / S.8413 (BRESLIN).