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S 10298

Enacts the "Terminate Excessive Cross-state Actuarial Subsidization (TEXAS) Act"

2025 Regular Session Introduced by James Skoufis

The bill requires NY life insurers to weight New York-specific health, morbidity, and mortality data in premium calculations, with a standard weight set by regulators.

REFERRED TO INSURANCE
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Bill Summary · S 10298

Purpose and intent

  • Introduces the Terminate Excessive Cross-state Actuarial Subsidization (TEXAS) Act, aimed at governing life insurance premium calculations for policies issued in New York.
  • The core goal is to require New York state–specific health, morbidity, and mortality data to be used as a factor in determining life insurance premium rates within the state.

Key provisions

  • New codification: Adds a new Section 4242 to the New York Insurance Law, titled “Life insurance rates.”
  • Mandatory use of NY-specific data:
    • Subsection (a) requires every life insurance company operating in New York to incorporate New York state–specific health, morbidity, and mortality information as a factor when calculating premium rates for any policy or contract issued in the state.
  • Regulatory standard weight:
    • Subsection (b) requires the superintendent to promulgate regulations that establish a standard weight to be given to New York–specific health, morbidity, and mortality data in rate calculations.
    • All life insurers doing business in New York must apply this standard weight in their rate formulae.
  • Effective date and applicability:
    • The act takes effect January 1 of the year following enactment.
    • It applies to policies and contracts issued, renewed, amended, modified, or altered on or after that effective date.
    • The act allows immediate action to create or amend regulations necessary for implementation, with authority to complete such regulatory changes by the effective date.

Who is affected

  • Primary: Life insurance companies authorized to do business in New York.
  • Indirectly: Policyholders in New York, as premium rates for life insurance policies issued in the state would be influenced by NY-specific health/demographic data and the mandated weighting.

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Introduction and referral: Introduced May 12, 2026, and referred to the Senate Committee on Insurance.
  • Regulatory process: Requires the New York State Department of Financial Services (the superintendent) to issue regulations defining the standard weight for NY data; regulatory changes can be enacted and implemented immediately upon or before the act’s effective date.
  • Effective date: January 1 following enactment (i.e., the first January 1 after the law’s passage).

Evaluation notes

  • The bill shifts premium calculation considerations toward New York–specific health and mortality indicators, potentially altering pricing relative to cross-state or national norms.
  • It grants the superintendent authority to set a standardized weighting scheme, which could reduce market variability but may also raise questions about data sources and methodology.
  • The term “Terminate Excessive Cross-state Actuarial Subsidization (TEXAS) Act” signals a policy aim to limit cross-state pricing subsidies or disparities, though the text of the bill focuses on the methodological weight given NY data rather than explicit subsidies.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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