Key Legislation Hot List

Bill Number: A.2171 Jean-Pierre / S.5016 Sanders

Status: This legislation not advanced in the Assembly or Senate in 2023-24

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State Only

Issues/Summary: 

• Restricts ODP fees to 3 per calendar year AND ODP fees cannot exceed $100 per calendar year; 
• Must establish an automatic bounce system for any amount exceeding the $100 ODP fee limit/calendar year; 
• Authorizes a financial institution to charge $1/month for any checking account for the maintenance of an automatic bounce system;
• Violation of this section occurs if a financial institution (who has an ODP program) refuses to extend funds under specific circumstances to cover an overdraft in any transaction account of a consumer at the institution & if it reserves the right to extend funds to pay any such overdraft on a discretionary basis,
• Any representation by such institution will extend credit to cover all overdrafts on such account. 

Bill Number: S.2769 Comrie / A.1478 Weprin

Status: This legislation did not advance in the Senate or Assembly in 2023-24.

Applies to State Charter

Issues/Summary: 

• Requires CUs which offer ODP to notify a customer when service is employed to prevent account penalties; needs to notify members of insufficient funds via email or other preferred notification and state ODP service has gone into effect (list fees + penalties associated).

Bill Number: A.3248 Hunter / No Same-As

Status: This legislation did not pass the Assembly in 2023-24 and a same-as bill was not introduced in the Senate. 

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State Only

Issues/Summary:

• Requires a written notification of overdraft fees charged to certain account holders.

Bill Number: S.1065 Mayer / A.6320 Zebrowski

Status: This legislation passed the Senate in 2023 and 2024 but did not advance in the Assembly.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State Only

Issues/Summary:

• Establishes limitations on bank accounts after such accounts have been closed and prohibits fees from being assessed after the account is closed.

Bill Number: A.4590 Bichotte Hermelyn / S.5222 Parker

Status: This legislation did not pass the Assembly or Senate in 2023-24.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State Only

Issues/Summary:

• Late payment fees shall not exceed five percent of the unpaid balance of any bill, including any interest thereon, or twenty dollars, whichever is less.

Bill Number: A.7353 Hunter / S.6982 Sanders

Status: The bill passed the Assembly in 2023-24 but did not pass the Senate. 

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State Only

Issues/Summary:

• Authorizes state-chartered banking institutions to exercise the rights of counterpart federally or out-of-state chartered banking institutions with DFS approval.

Bill Number: S.1453 Sanders / A.3246-A Hunter

Status: This legislation did not pass the Senate or Assembly in 2023.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Caps the amount of money that a municipality can deposit in any one credit union.
• Limits credit unions to only taking in deposits from localities where they have a branch or are headquartered.
• Requires credit unions accepting municipal deposits to document the community investments they are making in return for accepting municipal deposits.
• Instructs the Department of Financial services to study the impact that this measure would have on community banks.
• Sunsets in December 2029.
• The Association does not support this legislation.

Bill Number: A.9587 Thiele /S.8915 Martinez

Status: This legislation did not advance in the legislature, but was a budget priority for the bill's sponsors, who are Chairs of Local Governments Committees.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• The Association supports this legislation
• This legislation would amend municipal law to allow municipalities to do banking with credit unions.

Bill Number: S.6355-A Addabbo / A.7421 Hunter

Status: This legislation did not pass the Senate or Assembly in 2023.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Establishes a credit union deposit program allowing the New York State Comptroller and the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance to deposit a portion of the funds under the state’s control, up to $250,000,000.00, into credit unions.
• The Association supports this legislation.

Bill Number: A.7423-A Rozic / S.365-B Thomas

Status: The Senate passed S.365-B without a same-as version. The Assembly bill did not advance.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Creates an extensive state-level framework for the processing of consumer information.

• The Association lobbied for an exemption for both credit unions and the information we process because they are already subject to the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Bill Number: A.4124A Pheffer Amato and S.5014 Sanders

Status: These bills are no longer companions. Did not pass either house in 2023. The Assembly bill has advanced in 2024.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Requires credit unions to have a notary public on staff and available during business hours on the premises of each facility.
• Allows credit unions to charge a fee for service, not to exceed current law (2$).

Bill Number: A.7966 Weprin / S.5879 Skoufis

Status: This legislation did not pass either house in 2023.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Requires individuals who perform compliance functions, duties or tasks to obtain a compliance officer or compliance practitioner license

Bill Number: S.7623 Hoylman-Sigal / A.9315A Alvarez

Status: 

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• To regulate the use of electronic monitoring and automated decision tools in employment
• Makes it unlawful for an employer to deploy an electronic monitoring or automated decision tool for employment decisions except when the employer meets certain criteria.
• We are seeking clarification on requirements for credit unions regarding security and employee monitoring.

Bill Number: A.9230a Wallace/ S.9383, Sanders

Status: This legislation passed the legislature and will be considered by the Governor sometime in 2024.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State, but also seeking clarity.

Issues/Summary:

• Would require reworking of all accounts to courtesy accounts, to reduce issues that arise upon the death of members when there are joint accounts.
• This bill would require each New York bank to send a new account signature card to each owner of each account.
• The owner will likely need to have each card notarized, which presents a significant administrative hurdle for many members that likely would mean many will go unreturned.
• The Association supports the goal of the bill, but opposes this legislation in current form

Bill Number: A. 7138a Weinstein/ S.795 Comrie

Status: The bill did not pass.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both.

Issues/Summary:

• Would greatly expand consumer protection deceptive acts and practices law and adds “unfair” and “abusive” acts or practices, based on subjective conjectures. Increases statutory damages from $50 to $1,000 per violation.
• Would imbue third parties and organization with statutory standing to sue to commence class actions.
• The overly broad legislation would lead to an increase in lawsuits and puts small business at risk of frivolous litigation.
• The Association joins the Business Council of New York State to raise concerns with this legislation.

Bill Number: A. 8149 Rozic and S.7695a, Gounardes

Status: This legislation has support from the legislature and Governor Hochul and passed both houses of the legislature.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Legislation could curtail credit unions’ ability to offer products and services tailored to youth, including financial literacy programs.
• If a digital service knows a user is a minor or the service is primarily directed to minors, it will default to only being able to use that child's data in ways that are strictly necessary to provide the service.
• It won't be able to sell that data or use it in ways that the user-or user's parents, for children under thirteen-don't affirmatively say that they want.
• The bill would require that digital services that use third-party service providers contractually restrict those third parties from using the personal data of minors except for specified purposes, with accompanying safeguards to ensure compliance.
• The bill would not require age verification. It requires, however, digital services to respect browser or device signals that a user is a minor, which intends to help parents and teens browse the internet without restrictions while preserving their privacy.

Bill Number: A. 9057a Lee /s. 8677 Hoylman-Sigal

Status:  Did not pass.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State-Charter only.

Issues/Summary:

• This legislation would require financial institutions to accept the IDNYC as primary identification.
• The IDNYC was created as a New York City identification card program.
• Federal and state regulators have approved voluntary acceptance of the IDNYC in banking.

Bill Number: A. 9340 Lee and S. 8677a Hoylman-Sigal

Status: Passed both houses.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: Both

Issues/Summary:

• Legislation seeks additional security measures for mobile financial apps, like Zelle, Paypal, CashApp, and Venmo.
• Apps operating via financial services, like Zelle, are seeking an exemption to this bill.
• Unlike other P2P apps which use stored value accounts or otherwise intermediate the movement of funds, Zelle is a messaging service that helps route funds directly between two financial institutions.
• The bill’s requirements of a PIN are dangerous and will put people in harm’s way for longer periods of time in certain situations. Given the controls that Zelle already has in place and the fact that these types of transactions are fully reimbursed, Zelle is unique in how it protects consumers.
• Passed legislation includes exemption for Zelle transactions between financial institutions.

Bill Number: A. 10134, Bronson /S. 9326 Brouk

Status: Advanced in Assembly.  Introduced on May 13, 2024.

Applies to State and/or Federal Charter: State-Charter only, however, seeking amendments clarify inclusion of Federal Chartered Credit Unions. This legislation did not pass.

Issues/Summary:

• This legislation would allow the City of Rochester to charter a public bank to collaborate with local banking and not-for-profit organizations.
• Would not engage in retail banking activities, wholesale only.
• Intent NOT to compete with existing banks and credit unions.
• The Association Board of Directors voted to support this legislation.