Insurance costs for construction and repair work are much higher in New York than other states and lately have been skyrocketing. Some of this is due to national and international trends, and some of this is due to New York State-specific causes, which have proven to be thorny for legislators to tackle.

However, we ought to all agree on one policy: faking a construction site accident to commit insurance fraud is not just wrong, it’s criminal.

Whether you build new housing, are managing existing housing, or pay for workers compensation insurance for employees involved in construction, repairs, or remodeling, you're vulnerable to spikes in premiums. Staging a construction site accident to game the system in order to receive a financial windfall through an insurance claim is fraud and morally wrong. The time has come to root it out!

Write to your members of the Assembly and State Senate and urge them to support A.8981 (Weprin)/ S.8413 (Breslin). This bill establishes the crime of staging a construction site accident, designating it as a class E felony. Skyrocketing insurance premiums are a major impediment to keeping costs sustainable to promote affordable housing, and discouraging fraud is the low-hanging fruit of addressing the high cost of insurance.

Write to your legislators today and urge them to help stop construction insurance fraud!