It’s a high-dollar campaign to boost the current governor with two of her favorite themes: the Buffalo Bills and car insurance.

“Governor Hochul has already cut taxes for middle-class families. Now she is cutting car insurance rates,” the ad says.

What You Need To Know

Big money is being spent in the battle over car insurance reform 

Hochul included in her budget measures which she says would root out fraud

Some trial lawyers say it will mean victims won’t be able to sue 

It’s set to air during the Super Bowl on Sunday and elsewhere after that.

It’s part of a new campaign from a group called the Citizens for Affordable Rates PAC, and its initial paperwork says it’s backing Gov. Kathy Hocuhl.

Who’s paying? Well, Uber is. The company pumped nearly $3 million into the group this week, planning to push one of the governor’s big budget proposals — car insurance reform.

Hochul is proposing sweeping changes to try to root out fraud and excessive litigation related to car accidents, including limiting payouts for bad actors and changing the definition of a serious injury. The measures, she says, will reduce car insurance rates for New Yorkers because there will be fewer damages awarded.

“Nobody else is willing to stand up and say, ‘Why is this happening? And how can we do something about it?’” Hochul said this week.

The changes will benefit companies, like Uber, and insurers, who will have reduced liability.

NY1 reviewed how much insurance companies have donated to Hochul since January 2023 — contributing at least $220,000.

“It helps the insurance companies and harms the people who have been hurt,” said Andrew Finkelstein of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.

The association is vehemently opposing the measures. Those lawyers also spend big on state races.

Their political action committee donated nearly $1.5 million in that same time period to lawmakers in Albany — not Hochul directly.

“I observe a governor who has put forward speaking points that seem to mirror exactly what Uber and big insurance companies want,” Finkelstein said.

In response to this story, a spokesperson for Hochul said: “These common-sense and fair reforms will result in lower premiums for all policy holders in New York State, and any suggestion that she is acting on behalf of anyone other than the millions of New Yorkers who pay some of the highest rates in the nation is just plain wrong.”