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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.939
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S3549
Title of bill
An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to authorizing peace officers designated to investigate insurance frauds to execute arrest warrants and search warrants
Purpose
To facilitate the investigation and prosecution of insurance fraud in New York State by authorizing insurance fraud investigators to execute arrest warrants and search warrants.
Summary of provisions
This bill amends sections 2.20 of the criminal procedure law to authorize investigators of the insurance frauds bureau of the new department of financial services to request and execute arrest and search warrants.
Justification
Auto insurance premiums are rising, particularly down- state, and insurance fraud is a principal cause of the increases. Insurance fraud - auto, medical and property - costs New York consumers over S1 billion per year in increased premiums and it continues to grow. The state has an obligation to ensure that criminals profiting from insurance fraud are brought to justice; and this bill will further this goal by ensuring that insurance fraud investigators of the DFS are able to fight insurance fraud without being hindered because they lack the authority to independently execute search and arrest warrants.
The mission of the frauds bureau of the DFS is to investigate allega- tions of insurance fraud and assist in the prosecution of offenders. Penalties for insurance fraud range from a class A misdemeanor to a class B felony. In addition to enforcing penal law provisions relating to insurance fraud, investigators regularly identify other violations of laws perpetrated by persons under investigation Most insurance fraud investigators are former police officers with significant law enforce- ment investigative experience. Despite these qualifications, under current law, fraud investigators as peace officers are unable to arrest felons for whom they have obtained warrants, losing time and effective- ness by relying on municipal police or sheriffs' departments to provide available officers to execute warrants.
Under current law, insurance fraud bureau investigators are designated as peace officers and are unable to act independently in the execution of search and arrest warrants Rather, investigators are currently required to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to execute these functions, resulting in delays and hindering their ability to apprehend individuals committing insurance fraud Insurance fraud may not be a priority of local police departments who may already be under- staffed, which may result in delays and deter the investigation and prosecution of insurance fraud. This bill would give fraud investigators the authority to independently execute search and arrest warrants, thereby facilitating their apprehension of criminals engaging in insur- ance fraud.
Legislative history
S.2377-B of 2011-12; S.3054 of 2009-10; S.2453 of 2007-08
Fiscal implications
None to the state
Effective date
90 days after becoming a law
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.