Bill > S660

This bill aims to provide clarity and protection for businesses with 50 or fewer employees in Massachusetts regarding business interruption insurance coverage during a public health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The key provisions include: 1. Establishing rebuttable presumptions that COVID-19 caused physical loss or damage to the insured's property, resulting in business interruption losses, and that a public health emergency declaration indicates physical loss or damage that restricts access to the insured's property. 2. Prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on certain exclusions (e.g., pollution, mold, viruses) or the insured's non-compliance with notice or reporting provisions, unless the insurer can prove it was directly prejudiced. 3. Ensuring that partial reopenings and closures during the same policy period are treated as continuous and uninterrupted, and that deadlines or compliance periods are construed without including the periods of suspension of operations. 4. Requiring automatic renewal of policies expiring during the declared state of emergency at the current or reduced rate. The bill aims to provide clarity and protection for small businesses in Massachusetts during public health emergencies by ensuring that their business interruption insurance policies are reasonably construed to cover losses arising from such events.

Business and Industry

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S660