New Laws Proposed in New York City: ICE, Workers, Housing, AI

New laws in New York City have arrived in waves over the past year, driven by a new mayoral administration, an active City Council, and a state government reacting to federal shifts on immigration and technology. The changes touch nearly every part of daily life: who can enforce immigration law and where, how gig workers can be fired, how much notice employers must give about pay, which tenants get first crack at buying their building, how businesses can use algorithms to set your price, and when a debt collector can call. Below is a working guide to what has already taken effect, what takes effect soon, and the big proposals still moving through City Hall and Albany.

Immigration Enforcement: What ICE Can and Cannot Do

Governor Kathy Hochul signed a package of immigration protections into law on May 29, 2026, as part of the state budget. The law bans 287(g) agreements that deputize local police to make immigration arrests, prohibits local jails from holding people on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and bars ICE agents from wearing masks while on duty.¹

Hospitals, childcare centers, schools, polling places, and churches are designated “sensitive locations” where ICE must have a judicial warrant to enforce. State and municipal employees, with the exception of local police, cannot share information with immigration authorities, which is meant to keep immigrants comfortable accessing social services.² A new Office of Immigrant Trust inside the Attorney General’s office can investigate complaints and sue violators. New Yorkers also gained the right to sue federal immigration authorities in state court for civil rights violations, and children’s right to attend public school regardless of immigration status is now written into state law.³

What the law does not do: it does not ban informal collaboration between local police and federal immigration agents. The broader New York For All Act, sponsored by State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assembly Member Karines Reyes, would have required a judicial warrant before local police could share information with ICE at all. Hochul declined to back it, citing concerns about criminal investigations, and the bill remains in committee.⁴

At the city level, Local Law 63 of 2026 redefines immigration enforcement terms and prohibits federal immigration authorities from maintaining quarters on Department of Correction property.⁵

Worker Protections: Sick Leave, Gig Jobs, Pay, and Wages

More Unpaid Safe and Sick Leave

Since February 22, 2026, New York City employers must provide 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave each year on top of existing paid leave. The unpaid time is available immediately on hire and does not carry over. Qualifying reasons were broadened to include caring for a minor child, workplace violence situations, “public disaster” events like school or workplace closures, and legal proceedings tied to housing or subsistence benefits.⁶⁷

Delivery App Workers Can’t Be Deactivated Without Cause

Local Law 34 of 2026 prohibits delivery services from deactivating app-based delivery workers without “just cause” or a “bona fide economic reason.” Just-cause terminations require progressive discipline, unless the behavior is egregious, with notice to the worker within 72 hours. Economic deactivations require 120 days’ advance notice. Workers can challenge a deactivation informally with the service or ask the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to investigate; the agency can order reinstatement and back pay if it finds the deactivation was wrongful.⁸

Pay Data Reporting for Large Employers

Two bills enacted in December 2025, Int. 982-A and Int. 984-A, will require private employers with at least 200 employees in New York City to submit anonymous pay-data reports broken down by demographics and work location. The Mayor must designate a responsible agency by December 2026, which then has up to 12 months to develop the reporting format. Reporting is expected to begin around 2028. Penalties after a 30-day cure period start at $1,000 for a first uncured violation and $5,000 for subsequent offenses.⁷

Minimum Wage Now, and a $30 Proposal

The statewide minimum wage rose to $17 per hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester on January 1, 2026, and to $16 elsewhere.⁶ A pending proposal, Int. 0757-2026, called the New York City Minimum Wage Act and sponsored by Council Member Sandy Nurse, would set a local floor rising on a schedule. For employers with more than 500 workers nationwide, the rate would climb to $20 in 2027, $23 in 2028, $26 in 2029, and $30 by 2030. Smaller employers would reach $29 by 2031. After that, annual inflation adjustments would apply. The bill was referred to the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection in March 2026.⁹

Credit History, Stay-or-Pay, and Noncompetes

Three more employment measures:

Starting April 18, 2026, state law bars employers from using a job applicant’s or employee’s consumer credit history in employment decisions. Exemptions apply to law enforcement, security-clearance roles, and positions with fiduciary responsibility over $10,000 or more.⁷
The Trapped at Work Act, effective December 19, 2025, prohibits “stay or pay” agreements, including employment promissory notes and training repayment arrangements that force workers to pay back their employer if they leave early. Fines run from $1,000 to $5,000 per offense.⁷
S4641A, a pending bill, would ban most noncompete agreements, carving out individuals earning over $500,000 annually and noncompetes tied to the sale of a business. It has passed the Senate and sits before the Assembly.⁷

Housing: Tenant Office, Land Bank, and COPA

Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office in January 2026 and signed Executive Order 03 re-establishing the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, led by a mayoral appointee charged with coordinating tenant protection across agencies, combating landlord abuse, and shaping policy to strengthen tenants’ rights.¹⁰

A City Land Bank

Local Law 56 of 2026, sponsored by Council Member Gale Brewer, creates a city land bank as a charitable nonprofit corporation under the New York State Land Bank Act. The land bank can acquire, manage, and transfer vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties, including by purchasing tax liens from the city and enforcing them through foreclosure. Its board includes appointees from both the mayor and the Council speaker, and the application to the state’s Urban Development Corporation must be submitted within a year of enactment. The intent is to steer distressed properties into affordable housing rather than private speculation.¹¹

Community Opportunity to Purchase Act

COPA has had a bumpy road. The Council passed a version in December 2025, but former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed it on his last day in office, and the Council failed to override. Council Member Sandy Nurse reintroduced it as Intro. 905 on May 14, 2026, and it reached majority Council support within a week. Mayor Mamdani has endorsed it.¹² If enacted, it would give community land trusts and qualified nonprofit housing organizations a right of first opportunity to purchase certain at-risk multifamily buildings when the landlord decides to sell.¹³

Rent-Stabilized Increases

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board was considering a two-year rent adjustment of 0 to 4 percent for rent-stabilized apartments for the lease period from October 2026 through September 2027, with a final vote expected on June 25, 2026.¹⁴

AI and Algorithmic Pricing

Governor Hochul signed the Responsible AI Safety and Education Act, or RAISE Act, on December 19, 2025. Large AI developers must publish safety protocols and report “critical harm” incidents to the state within 72 hours. The Department of Financial Services houses a new oversight office that assesses major developers and issues annual reports. The Attorney General can sue for failure to report or for false statements, with civil penalties up to $1 million for a first violation and $3 million for repeat offenses. The law takes effect January 1, 2027.¹⁵

A broader proposal, the New York Artificial Intelligence Act (S1169A) from Senator Kristen Gonzalez, would have required independent audits of “high-risk” AI systems, consumer notification before consequential AI-driven decisions, and an outright ban on social scoring. It passed the Senate 51 to 8 in June 2025 but died in the Assembly after being referred to the Internet and Technology Committee.¹⁶

New York’s Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, codified as General Business Law § 349-a, took effect in late 2025. Businesses that use an algorithm with personal data to set a price must display a prominent notice: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” The disclosure appears in the same medium as the price. The Attorney General enforces it, starting with a cease-and-desist letter and escalating to injunctions and civil penalties up to $1,000 per violation.¹⁷

Debt Collection and Everyday Consumer Rules

The city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s SHIELD Rule, a set of amended debt collection regulations, takes effect September 1, 2026. Consumers can dispute a debt at any time during collection. Collectors are limited to three contacts per account in any seven-day period across all communication channels. Reporting medical debt to consumer reporting agencies is prohibited.¹⁸

The state also enacted laws on cancellation of online subscriptions, mandatory posting of return and refund policies by online retailers, and the regulation and licensing of “Buy Now, Pay Later” loans.⁶ And effective March 21, 2026, food stores cannot refuse cash or charge extra to load cash onto prepaid cards.¹⁹

Gender-Motivated Violence Lookback and Policing

The City Council overrode Mayor Adams’s veto on January 29, 2026, enacting Local Law 50 of 2026. It opens an 18-month window, through July 29, 2027, for victims of gender-motivated violence that occurred before January 9, 2022, to file civil lawsuits. The provision closes a gap left by earlier versions of the city’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which courts had read as applying only prospectively. Liability now extends to anyone who “commits, directs, enables, participates in, or conspires in” such violence, and plaintiffs whose earlier suits were dismissed between March 2023 and March 2025 can amend or refile. Adams had vetoed the bill citing a projected $1 billion fiscal impact.²⁰

Local Law 51 of 2026, sponsored by Council Member Diana Ayala, bars NYPD officers and other city law enforcement from collecting DNA from a minor during a criminal investigation without written consent from a parent, legal guardian, or attorney. Exceptions apply to victims, DNA collected under a search warrant or court order, and samples abandoned at a crime scene. It took effect 90 days after its January 29, 2026, enactment.²¹

The state budget created a new class B misdemeanor for “criminal interference with access to a place of worship.” Local Law 82 of 2026 requires the NYPD Commissioner to develop a plan addressing security risks at places of religious worship while balancing free speech and assembly protections.²²

Buildings, Construction, and Energy

The Council enacted several building code updates in 2026. Local Law 10 requires construction site safety training to cover mental health, suicide prevention, and substance misuse. Local Law 12 sets resilient construction standards for tanks in stormwater flood risk areas and mandates a study of new stormwater flooding prevention regulations. Local Law 23 addresses cooling systems in tenant-occupied dwellings. Local Law 47 conforms the city’s energy conservation code to the state energy code with city-specific amendments.²³

The city’s all-electric buildings law, which would have required new construction under seven stories and large commercial buildings to use electric heat and appliances, was originally scheduled to take effect January 1, 2026. Implementation was suspended in mid-November 2025 pending resolution of litigation filed by trade groups and unions.⁶

The NY HEAT Act (Home Energy Affordable Transition Act), which would align utility regulation with state climate goals and direct a planned downsizing of the gas distribution system, remains in committee. It sets a goal that residential customers should not pay more than 6 percent of household income for energy, and it would end ratepayer-subsidized incentives for expanding fossil fuel infrastructure. It has been introduced in three consecutive sessions without reaching a floor vote.²⁴

Other Measures Worth Knowing

Fashion models, management companies, and talent agencies must register with the Department of Labor effective June 19, 2026. Clients, meaning brands, photographers, and magazines, are responsible for payment, and models are protected from retaliation when filing complaints.¹⁹
The GUARD VA Benefits Act, effective May 4, 2026, makes it a class A misdemeanor for unaccredited individuals to charge fees for assisting veterans with benefit claims, with civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation.¹⁹
New court rules governing the use of generative artificial intelligence in preparing court documents took effect June 1, 2026.²⁵
Local Law 2 of 2026 requires schools and child care programs to stock epinephrine devices, and a companion state law expanded the definition of such devices to include nasal spray delivery systems.⁵
Local Law 81 of 2026 establishes a quadrennial commission to review and recommend compensation levels for the mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough presidents, council members, and district attorneys.²⁶
Effective April 20, 2026, state law prohibits operating stretch limousines older than 10 years or with more than 350,000 miles.¹⁹
Both chambers passed a ban on commercial octopus aquaculture for human consumption, with penalties up to $1,000 per day of violation and an exemption for scientific and educational use. The bill was delivered to the Governor but had not been signed as of early June 2026.²⁷
A bill mandating WiFi in temporary housing facilities statewide has passed both chambers and awaits the Governor’s signature.²⁸

1
Spectrum News. Hochul Signs Measures to Limit ICE Cooperation
2
New York Focus. Hochul Budget New York Immigration Protections Collaboration Deal
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NYCLU. Heres What State Leaders Did and Did Not Do to Protect Immigrant New Yorkers
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New York State Senate. State Lawmakers Call for Passage of Full New York For All Act
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Intro NYC. NYC Local Laws
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CBS News New York. New New York Laws 2026
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Cooley. New York Enacts New Employment Laws
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Intro NYC. Int 1332-2025
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NYC Council Legistar. Int 0757-2026 – New York City Minimum Wage Act
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NYC Mayor’s Office. Executive Order 03
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NYC Council Legistar. Int 0570-2024 – Land Bank
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New Economy Project. Community Opportunity to Purchase Act
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New Economy Project. COPA Reaches Majority Support in City Council
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NYC Rules. Rent Guidelines for October 2026 to September 2027
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Office of Governor Kathy Hochul. Governor Hochul Signs Nation Leading Legislation to Require AI Frameworks
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New York State Senate. S1169A – New York Artificial Intelligence Act
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New York State Senate. GBS 349-A – Personalized Algorithmic Pricing
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NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Rent Guidelines for October 2026 to September 2027
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News10. New York Regulations Spring 2026
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NYC Council Legistar. Int 1297-2025 – Gender Motivated Violence Protection
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NYC Council Legistar. Int 0125-2024 – DNA Collection From Minors
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NYC Council Legistar. Int 0001-2026 – Security Perimeters at Religious Worship
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NYC Department of Buildings. Local Laws – Department of Buildings
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New York State Senate. A4870A – NY HEAT Act
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New York State Courts. Requests for Public Comment
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NYC Council Legistar. Int 0502-2026 – Elected Officials Compensation Commission
27
New York State Senate. S7421 – Octopus Farming Ban
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NYC Bar Association. 2026 New York Legislative Session Wrap Up