Trade organization speaks out against proposed NY state title insurance bill

The American Land Title Association, a national trade organization representing private title insurers, is speaking out against a proposed piece of New York state legislation that would create a government-managed title insurance organization. In a statement out over the weekend, the organization said that the legislation doesn’t adequately account for the total cost of the “labor-intensive steps to ensure homebuyers have a ‘good title’ before a land title insurance policy is written.” Efforts to reform the state’s land title insurance system, including the creation of a government-run program as proposed by State Assembly member Richard Brodsky and State Senator Eric Adams in the bill, are flawed because “any revenue from a public land title insurer would be offset by considerable costs not spelled out in the legislative proposal,” according to the release. Furthermore, the association argued that the state would miss out on approximately $15 million in possible tax revenue generated yearly by private insurers if a government group supersedes them.