carshare bill passes nys legislature!

When we paused operations on May 19, we hoped that NYS Bill A.5718b/S.5959b would pass this legislative session. We’re thrilled to announce it passed the State Legislature on June 9, and now moves on to Governor Hochul for her signature.

This is great news not just for carshares, but for the thousands of nonprofits who struggle to find auto insurance for their vehicles.

However, there is a waiting period before we can reopen. One of the amendments made to the bill last week imposes a 6-month wait time after the bill is signed before it goes into effect. This is so the NYS DMV can update their systems. While this isn’t ideal, it’s better than closing down altogether. We don’t expect Governor Hochul to veto it, but we do need to keep it on her radar and for her to sign it ASAP.

While our members will have to wait six months after the bill is signed before utilizing Ithaca Carshare cars again, we plan to take that time to strategize, expand the Electric Vehicles in our fleet, work on EV charging infrastructure, and improve our service overall so when we re-launch next winter, it’s better than ever.

I want to acknowledge and deeply thank the many people who worked on getting this bill passed, most notably Assembly Member Anna Kelles for introducing the bill, and Senator Lea Webb for introducing it in the Senate. They worked tenaciously to gain cosponsors, move the bill through the legislature, hold briefings and press conferences, address concerns from insurance regulators and legislators, and advocate for it relentlessly.

We’re so grateful they took this on, not just for Ithaca Carshare, but for all carshares across the state, and for all nonprofits who need auto insurance.

We also worked closely with Anna and Lea’s staff who helped us understand the legislative process while moving this bill along: Everett Hart and Lorne Montague in Anna’s office, and Amanda Fallon and Stacey Dimas in Lea’s office.

Numerous others worked on this campaign: Jennifer Dotson, the executive director of the Center for Community Transportation, sent countless emails, made numerous phone calls, went to Albany three times, and organized meetings with dozens of legislators, insurance regulators, and governor’s staff.

Pamela Davis, Chris Reed, and Peter Andrew were our nonprofit auto insurance and legal experts, helping us and legislators understand how RRGs operate and how they are regulated. Peter helped us all understand that many insurance companies won’t cover auto for nonprofits in New York, and how this bill would fix that market failure.

Creighton Randall, Margaret Johnson, Fernando Dearagon, Zoe Nelson, Charlie Kruzansky, Ed Swayze, Dan Roth, Bob Rossi, and many others joined us in Albany, wrote letters and emails, made phone calls, and rallied supporters.

Ithaca Carshare and CCT staff kept things running smoothly right up until the day we had to pause and even beyond: Anna Cook, Erik Shanton, Harry Sauer, Matt Nelson, J’avail Haltom, and Brittni Griep.

We had 35 organizations co-sign our Memo of Support, and the New York Sustainable Business Council (NYSBC) wrote a Memo of Support on behalf of 2,000+ businesses.

When the bill passed the Senate but was stalled in the Assembly, volunteer Miranda Phillips organized a phone relay to call Assembly Leadership and demand the bill move to the floor for a vote. 221 people made calls to the Speaker’s office, and after four days of calls he moved it to the Ways and Means committee where it passed unanimously and moved on to the Rules committee, passing that yesterday, and the whole Assembly early this morning on June 9, just after Midnight.

Without this huge effort from hundreds of people, we would not have been able to pass this bill!

I also want to thank the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for investing millions in small, community-based carshares in New York State and investing in Electric Vehicles (EVs) and EV charging infrastructure. Ithaca, Rochester, and Albany have all received funding to purchase EVs for their carshares, and the city of Buffalo to relaunch a nonprofit carshare.

I’m hopeful we won’t face any more auto insurance roadblocks for the foreseeable future. This bill solved a major market failure in the auto insurance industry, and we hope that more commercial insurers will see the success of carshares as we grow across the state, and decide to enter or reenter the market.

Please stay tuned in the coming weeks for details about next steps.

Warmly,

Liz Field, Director
Ithaca Carshare