Just before 4:30 in the morning on Friday, June 13th, the New York State Senate completed their regular 2025 Legislative Session work. In her closing speech, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, “as we adjourn, let’s reflect, not just on the bills that we’ve passed, but the lives that we’ve impacted and continue to impact. We met fear with action, cynicism with courage, and we demonstrated, again, leadership – leadership with integrity, and leadership with purpose. So, everyone in this chamber, I again, want to thank you for your tireless dedication, your fierce advocacy, your enduring belief that government can, indeed, be a force for good. In fact, that really is the only thing it should be.”
The Assembly returned for a couple extra days before finishing their work close to 1:00 A.M. on Wednesday, June 18th. Overall, 856 bills passed both Houses during the 2025 Session. Governor Kathy Hochul has already acted on 156 of them, meaning there are now 700 bills left awaiting delivery to the Governor’s office. Some of those notable bills include legislation that would:
- Enact the FAIR Business Practices Act, which would expand the ability of the Attorney General to enforce consumer protection laws. The version of this legislation that passed is stripped back from the original proposal, as the private right of action provisions were removed before its passage in the Senate last week;
- Enact the “Medical Aid in Dying Act;”
- Require safety reports for powerful frontier artificial intelligence models in order to limit critical harm;
- Enact the “Trapped at Work Act,” which would prohibit the use of employment promissory notes;
- Prohibit creditors from enforcing a consumer debt incurred as a result of fraud, duress, intimidation, threat, force, identity theft, exploitation of the debtor’s personal information or similar economic abuse perpetuated against the debtor;
- Permit restaurants and bars to purchase 6 bottles of wine and/or liquor per week from liquor stores;
- Require every food establishment to label all prepackaged food with a written notification on the package or on a label attached to the package identifying any ingredient with which a product is made that constitutes a major food allergen;
- Require the clear and conspicuous disclosure of pricing changes for online grocery delivery and online pick-up services;
- Require advertisements to disclose when a synthetic performer is being used;
- Phase out certain mandatory university fees for graduate students;
- Require peer-to-peer car sharing programs to provide insurance coverage in amounts equal to the financial responsibility requirements for rental cars;
- Direct the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to conduct a study to examine and update the requirements of safety inspections conducted to ensure the operational safety of all motor vehicles;
- Prohibit car manufacturers and dealers from charging a subscription fee for certain functions of the car after it is sold;
- Establish a Special Electric Vehicle Emergency Response Training Program;
- Require manufacturers and retailers of rechargeable batteries to establish a comprehensive system for the collection, handling and proper disposable of rechargeable batteries; and
- Establish an online verification system for motor vehicle insurance;
- Require the Superintendent of Financial Services to promulgate regulations which provide standardizes definitions for commonly used terms and phrases in certain insurance policies;
- Require insurance coverage for one rescue and one maintenance inhaler at no cost
- Require hospitals to establish a violence prevention program, which includes a workplace safety and security assessment and to develop a safety and security plan that addresses identified workplace violence, threats or hazards;
- Require general hospitals to provide language assistance services, and to develop a language assistance program;
- Require pharmacies that are discontinuing to notify customers of such discontinuance and provide information including locations of other nearby pharmacies;
- Establish a task force to promote the employment of people with disabilities by state agencies; and
- Establish a Center for Dyslexia and Dysgraphia.
As of now, there are no concrete plans for a Special Session later this year. However, if the federal government approves funding cuts to the State, it is highly likely Governor Hochul will call a Special Session to address the cuts and make adjustments to New York’s budget.