March 17, 2026 · Consumer Protection · 1,246 words · 4 speakers · 37 segments
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Senate Standing Committee on Consumer Protection. I'm Senator Rachel May, chair of the committee, and this is our third meeting for the 2026 legislative session. I want to welcome all our committee members. Thank you for joining us, as well as those who are watching us. On the Senate's online broadcast of the meeting. We are joined by Senator Chris Ryan, Senator Zalmen Ryring, Senator Kristen Gonzales, Senator Bill Weber, and also staff members are here. I've got Amy Gunnels, the committee clerk, Kristen Williams, and Michael Terra from my office, and Naram Gassu from the central staff. So the first bill, we have seven bills today and the first bill is Senate Bill 1541 a by me, an
act to amend a general business law in relation to requiring bicycles advertised for sale or resale in New York State to have an identifying serial number. This bill was reported from the Consumer Protection Committee last year.
And I'll just say this is about bike theft and there are supposed to be serial numbers on bicycles so that when somebody sells it, they should have to show that. Any discussion?
Move the bill.
All right. 2nd all right. By Senator Myy. Seconded by Senator Gonzalez. Welcome, Senator. All in favor? Aye. Anybody opposed without recommendation? All right. The bill will be reported to the calendar. Our second bill is 1859 by Senator
Myrie, an act to amend the general business law in relation to requiring issuers of credit cards to give the Cardholder at least 45 days notice before closing the cardholder's account. This bill passed the Senate in 2025.
And do you have any.
Yeah, just. Thank you, Madam Chair, for putting this on the agenda again. This bill idea came from a constituent who reached out to my office a couple years ago and said, I had this thing happen to me. I got no notice. How was this possible? And I said, I don't know, let's look into it. And here we are. And so I'm hoping that we can advance this again. I have heard some concerns around the ability, if there is fraud or something security related, for them to shut the credit card down. I think that is a reasonable thing. So we're going to look into potentially making some changes and also looking at what enforcement looks like. But I'm very glad that this is moving and hopefully we can get some partners in the other House to get it done.
Thank you. I'm grateful for this bill. I have to say. When I was 30 years old, my husband died and American Express canceled our credit card. I had to borrow money to get to the funeral. It was that like it was just very sudden and they didn't give me a heads up. I know that a lot of laws about kind of the rights of spouses have changed over the time, but still, this feels like just basic common sense that people should be able to know. All right, I just had.
If you don't mind, I'd like to just make a comment. I, too, share your concerns about fraud and about notice if we have a fraudulent situation, because obviously these scams today are very elaborate, very sophisticated and very deceptive. And I have some concerns about that. But I also have what if the cardholder comes to the company and says, I need to cancel this? Maybe there's a divorce going on. Maybe there's other issues going on that one spouse wants to cancel it. So I have some concerns. So I'm a nay on this, but I'm certainly willing to talk to the sponsor about things we could amend to make it more agreeable.
Thank you for your comments. Okay. Do I have a motion? Motion. All right. Senator Gonzalez, a second?
I'll second.
Thanks. All in favor?
Thank you.
Without rec. Opposed. Okay. Our third bill is Senate Bill 23 9th 3 by Senator Prasad, an act
to amend the general business law in relation to prohibiting hospitals and healthcare providers from storing credit card information without consent.
Do you have any discussion on this bill? All right, Senator Maya removes the bill. Is there a second? Senator Gonzalez? All in favor? Aye. Without recommendation. Minority. Without the condition. Okay. Bill is reported the first reading on the calendar, and we'll go on to our fourth bill. Sent bill 4296 by Senator Parker.
An act to amend the general business law in relation to providing gas station assistance to disabled motorists.
I have to confess, when I read this bill, it hadn't occurred to me what an issue this must be for some people. So do we have any discussion?
All right.
Senator Myri, Motion. Bill. Senator Gonzalez, seconds. All in favor?
Aye.
Without Recommendation?
Without recommendation.
2 without recommendation. Anyone across? Okay. The bill is reported to Commerce, Economic Development and small business. Fifth bill. Senate Bill 4413 by Senator May.
An act to amend the general business law in relation to deletion of a customer's financial information after cancellation of an automatic renewal or continuous service. This bill was reported from the Consumer protection committee in 2025.
Any discussion on this?
Move the bill.
All right. Senator Myra. Secondary. Senator Ryan. All in favor? Aye. That rec. Opposed?
I'm sorry.
Bills recorded the first reading on the calendar. Sixth bill S5598A by Senator May.
An act to amend the general business law and the civil practice law and rules in relation to protecting private education loan borrowers and co signers. This bill has passed the Senate each year since 2021.
Any discussion on this bill? This has become a more urgent problem now that the federal government has moving all the goal posts on education loans. Do I have a motion move bill? All right, Senator. Well let's let Senator Ryan move the bill and Senator Mary second. All in favor? Aye. Without rec. Anyone opposed? No. Okay. The bills reported the first reading on the calendar. Our seventh and final bill is s.
Senator May an active in the general business law in relation to requiring entities that access a consumer's consumer credit report to notify such consumer of their right to obtain a security freeze. This bill passed the Senate in 2025.
This bill came from Kristen Williams who once she learned that it's so easy to do as a kid security freeze and it really does enable you to stop fraud from happening. Seems like an obvious thing to let people know about it. Any other discussion? Senator Gonzalez second Senator Ryrie all in favor? Without rec one without wreck. The bill is reported to first reading on the calendar and that's. And that concludes the Legislative Business center. As the ranker I would have given you a moment to speak at the beginning.
I was stuck in the elevator chair. I'm sorry that there's a few minutes late but thank you.
Of course. Okay, well thanks everybody who attended. And we have vote sheets from the people who were unable to attend. And that concludes our meeting of the consumer protection Committee.