Advocates target ‘unfair’ business practices
ALBANY — Advocates and lawmakers are pushing to amend New York law to ban “unfair” business practices in hopes of strengthening consumer protections.
The Consumer and Small Business Protection Act, sponsored by state Sen. Leroy Comrie and Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein, would prohibit “unfair, deceptive or abusive” business acts and raise penalties from $50 to $1,000, and also include coverage of damages.
Carolyn Coffey, the director of litigation for economic justice at Mobilization for Justice, a nonprofit legal services organization, said that New York’s consumer protection laws lag behind those of other states and the federal government, which already prohibit “unfair” business practices.
Coffey said that her organization’s hotline gets calls from residents across the state with a range of complaints about unfair practices, including when they are buying a car, placing a family member in a nursing home or dealing with a landlord.
The attorney also said that many consumers are dealing with problems from mortgage and student loan services.
“We get calls from New Yorkers — mostly vulnerable, low-income New Yorkers, many of them from communities of color — who have experienced something very deceptive or, more commonly, something really unfair and abusive who were taken advantage of because they’re a senior, because English isn’t their first language or because they’re not financially savvy,” Coffey said.
The proposed legislation, which is pending in the state Senate and Assembly at the committee level, would bring more protections for consumers to take action against those who have deceived or unfairly taken advantage of them, Coffey said.
Coffey said that the legislation would empower many New Yorkers and “give them the tools” to deter bad actors engaging in deceptive or unfair practices.
“Vultures, predators take advantage of people with vulnerabilities all the time and because our law is so weak there’s really nothing we can do for them in many instances,” Coffey said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul included similar consumer protections in her proposed executive budget, including expanding the general business law to prohibit unfair and abusive practices, though with what advocates claim is a “narrower” definition of abusive acts. Hochul also included proposals to regulate the “Buy Now Pay Later” industry.
“If the last two years have been about putting more money in New Yorkers’ pockets, this year is about keeping it there and that starts with safeguarding people’s hard-earned cash,” Hochul said in January.
Advocates celebrated the inclusion of Hochul’s package of consumer protections in her budget proposal, but pushed for further changes — especially allowing class action lawsuits against businesses using deceptive, unfair or abusive practices — included in the Consumer and Small Business Protection Act.
The push for the legislation comes as legislators consider what to include in “one-house” budgets, scheduled to be released this week, and as “National Consumer Protection Week” highlighted the issue last week.
Russ Haven, general counsel for New York Public Interest Research Group, said that the legislation would be an update to the state’s main consumer protection law, which is more than 50 years old, and has “never quite lived up to its promise.”
“It never quite lived up to its promise and certainly hasn’t kept pace with protections in other states or in federal law,” Haven said in a statement. “Consumer transactions are more complex and completed far more quickly than decades ago — creating opportunities for sharp business practices that were unimaginable in the 1970s.”
Haven also said that the legislation is similar to other states’ laws, which have not experienced a “flood of lawsuits” in response.
“Businesses that play fairly and honestly have nothing to fear from strong consumer laws,” Haven said.