Recommendations For Strengthening Consumer Protections In New York City

SUMMARY

The Consumer Affairs Committee (Donald Maurice, Chair) issued a set of priority recommendations to the new mayoral administration to strengthen consumer protections, promote affordability, and advance economic fairness. The memo identifies longstanding gaps in consumer protection and emerging risks arising from new technologies, financial products, and market failures in essential services. Organized around three core objectives, the recommendations call for building modern consumer protection infrastructure, regulating emerging financial and technological harms, and expanding enforcement capacity. Collectively, they offer a roadmap for early action through legislation, regulation, and enhanced enforcement to better safeguard New Yorkers.

The memo urges improved interagency coordination on affordability; enactment of comprehensive privacy rights; stronger biometric data protections; expanded municipal broadband options; and clearer authority for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to address unfair and abusive practices. It further recommends targeted responses to exploitative earned wage access products, algorithmic price-setting, predatory debt collection, forced arbitration, deceptive fees, discriminatory credit practices, and misleading short-term rental listings. To ensure these protections are meaningful, the Committee proposes bolstering enforcement through sector-specific DCWP leadership, partnerships with outside counsel, an expanded False Claims Act, and a private right of action.

REPORT

REPORT BY THE CONSUMER AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STRENGTHENING CONSUMER PROTECTIONS IN NEW YORK CITY RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED TO MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI

On behalf of the Consumer Affairs Committee (“the Committee”) of the New York City Bar Association (“City Bar”), we write to congratulate Mayor Mamdani on his historic election and offer a set of priority recommendations for strengthening consumer protections, advance affordability, and promote economic fairness for all New Yorkers. The Mamdani Administration has a unique opportunity to address longstanding gaps in consumer protection while responding to emerging challenges posed by new technologies, evolving financial products, and persistent market failures in essential services.

This report provides an overview of emerging risks, longstanding gaps in consumer protection, and actionable steps the incoming Administration can take—through legislation, regulation, and enhanced enforcement—to better safeguard the City’s residents.  It is organized around three core objectives:

Building Modern Consumer Protection Infrastructure – Recommendations 1-5 strengthen the City’s ability to coordinate across agencies, protect personal privacy and biometric data, expand broadband access, and clarify the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s authority to address unfair and abusive practices.

Regulating Emerging Financial and Technological Harms – Recommendations 6-12 target specific marketplace failures, from exploitative earned wage access products and algorithmic pricing to predatory debt collection, forced arbitration clauses, deceptive fees, and discriminatory credit access.

Expanding Enforcement Capacity – Recommendation 13 proposes multiple pathways to enhance enforcement, including partnerships with outside counsel, an expanded False Claims Act, sectoral deputies within DCWP, and a private right of action.

Together, these recommendations outline a pragmatic and impactful agenda for the first months and years of the Mamdani Administration. The Committee welcomes the opportunity to discuss any of these issues further and stands ready to support the Administration’s efforts to advance fairness, accountability, and consumer rights across New York City.

I. OPTIMIZE COORDINATION ACROSS ALL NYC AGENCIES

We recommend that:

1. Every City agency conducts a self-assessment as early as practicable of the Agency’s influence on affordability for consumers, particularly those agencies that bear strongly upon the citizenry.
2. The Administration assembles a Mayoral task force to identify and execute an inter-agency communication plan for the purpose of identifying and addressing affordability issues.
3. The Office of Technology and Innovation facilitates efficient interagency communication.

II. ENACT COMPREHENSIVE PRIVACY RIGHTS

We recommend that the Mamdani Administration push for enactment of a comprehensive privacy statute that provides New Yorkers with fundamental privacy rights, including the right to access, correct, delete, and transfer their data, along with the right to opt-out of the use of data for sale, advertising, or profiling.

III. STRENGTHEN BIOMETRIC PROTECTION LAWS

While New York has implemented limited protections addressing the use of biometric identifiers as part of Admin Code § 22-1201 et seq., the law currently only provides consumers with a right to notice that their biometric information may be used. We recommend that the Mamdani Administration work to enact robust rights for consumers and tenants to opt-out of the collection or use of biometric information. We recommend that the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (“DCWP”) consider as part of its regulatory agenda whether businesses should be prohibited from conditioning the provision of any good or service on the collection of biometric information.

IV. EXPAND MUNICIPAL BROADBAND OPPORTUNITIES

The City remains partitioned between major telecommunications providers. Verizon has reneged on an agreement to provide fiber access to all City premises, and many residents have few or no choice regarding their broadband provider.[1]The Consumer Affairs Committee has previously encouraged the City to further address this market failure and we reiterate our recommendation that the Mamdani Administration make every effort to expand broadband options for consumers.[2]

V. CLARIFY DCWP’S POWERS TO ADDRESS UNFAIR AND ABUSIVE PRACTICES

We recommend amending Admin Code § 20-700 et seq. (the “Consumer Protection Law”) to clarify DCWP’s powers to address unfair and abusive practices. While the Consumer Protection Law arguably encompasses unfair practices insofar as it declares that “[u]nfair trade practices [are] prohibited,” and states that DCWP was established to protect the public from “deceptive, unfair and unconscionable practices,” Admin Code § 20-101, unfairness is not defined. Further, while abusive practices are arguably encompassed to the extent that they fit within the definition of unconscionable practices, Admin Code § 20-701(b), both should be formally defined in the Consumer Protection Law as part of Admin Code § 20-701. The Consumer Affairs Committee has previously approved legislation that would amend N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349 to include robust definitions of both doctrines.[3]

VI. ADDRESSING MISCONDUCT IN EARNED WAGE ACCESS (EWA) PRODUCTS

We recommend the Mamdani Administration leverage the DCWP or the Law Department to enforce the Consumer Protection Law and other applicable laws to regulate EWA products through litigation. Furthermore, we recommend that DCWP initiate rulemaking to amend R.C.N.Y. tit. 22 (Banking Commission) to require reporting by banks of suspected EWA product transactions in consumer accounts. We also recommend the DCWP explore regulation of EWA products under its authorities to regulate employment through the Office of Labor Policy & Standards.

VII. CONDUCT INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE USE OF ALGORITHMIC PRICE SETTING

DCWP has broad investigatory powers related to regulated entities.[4] While State law requires businesses to disclose the fact of their use of algorithmic price setting, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349-A, no further disclosures are required. We recommend DCWP initiate additional rulemaking to further address algorithmic price setting, including providing enhanced rights to consumers that allow them to right to access, correct, and delete any data used to sets the price of a good or service, and the right to opt-out of the use of their data.

VIII. ADDRESSING CONSUMER PROTECTIONS IN DEBT COLLECTION

We recommend that the Mamdani Administration:

1. Withdraw the August 2024 amendments, which have no effective date.[5]
2. If amendments are needed, propose amendments that align with federal Regulation F;[6] and,
3. If amendments are proposed, remove existing exemptions for government entities and certain utilities so that they, too, are prohibited from engaging in prohibited debt collection acts and practices.

IX. COMBAT FORCED ARBITRATION IN CONSUMER AND WORK-FOR-HIRE CONTRACTS

We recommend that DCWP initiate rulemaking that would limit the ability of licensed entities to require consumers or workers to waive their right to jury trials in favor of mandatory binding arbitration. DCWP should specifically consider implementing regulations similar to California’s A.B. 51[7] and Kentucky’s KRS 336.700(2),[8] which address pre-formation issues by limiting the ability of entities to require counterparties to waive their substantive right, including the right to file a civil action.

X. ADDRESSING AFFORDABILITY: FEES AND ACCESS TO CREDIT IN FINANCIAL SERVICES

a. Regulating Various Financial Service Fees

We recommend that the Mamdani Administration conduct a survey using its regulatory police power to survey fees and their underlying costs at depository institutions, credit card companies, issuers of spending cards, such as gift cards or prepaid cards, merchant card services, lenders, and tax preparation services that offer refund anticipation loans. The survey would inform a determination by the Mayoral Administration of what constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or practice. Additionally, we recommend that DCWP initiate rulemaking to amend R.C.N.Y. tit. 22 to require compliance through the conduit of the NYC Banking Commission or R.C.N.Y. tit. 6 regulating licensures administered by DCWP.

b. Ensuring Access to Credit

We recommend that the Administration leverage the Human Rights Commission in tandem with DCWP to identify discriminatory practices targeting New Yorkers in the financial services markets. We also recommend that DCWP initiate rulemaking to amend R.C.N.Y. tit. 6 to include discriminatory practices proscribed by NYC Human Rights Law in the definition of unfair, deceptive, or unconscionable trade practices.

XI. LIMIT HOTELS FROM ADVERTISING ON HOMESTAY WEBSITES

New York law currently limits the types of rooms that may be listed on homestay websites such as Airbnb and Vrbo. We recommend DCWP initiate rulemaking to prohibit licensed hotel operators from advertising rooms on such sites as such listings are inherently deceptive and incompatible with the intent of homestay sites.

XII. APPOINTMENT OF SECTORAL DCWP DEPUTIES

DCWP’s Commissioner may “appoint such deputies as he or she deems necessary for the discharge of his or her duties.” Charter ch. 64, § 2202. The Committee encourages the appointment of sectoral deputies charged with undertaking rulemaking and enforcement within discrete policy portfolios to further enhance rulemaking and enforcement.

XIII. CONSIDER ALTERNATIVE ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS FOR THE CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW

The City has limited resources that it can devote to enforcement of the Consumer Protection Law. Several alternatives to expand enforcement opportunities should be considered, including:

a. Direct Partnerships with Outside Counsel

DCWP and/or the Law Department should consider partnering with outside counsel for discrete, resource-intense projects. Several state attorneys general and local law departments have successfully implemented private attorney general programs leveraging outside counsel to bring consumer protection actions that otherwise could not have been robustly prosecuted with existing resources. Similar programs can meaningfully expand the reach of the City’s Consumer Protection Law.

b. Expand the False Claims Act

Cardozo Law Professor Myriam Gilles has proposed an expanded False Claims Act that would allow private citizens to bring parens patriae claims on behalf of consumers and workers.[9] Similar to California’s Private Attorneys General Act, Cal. Lab. Code § 2698 et seq., such a mechanism would allow the prosecution of consumer claims that might otherwise be constrained by arbitration clauses or class action waivers.

c. Private Right of Action

The City should amend the Consumer Protection Law to include a private right of action. The government’s resources are limited, and allowing consumers to directly vindicate their own rights would help ensure adequate and broad enforcement of the law. As the City’s Consumer Protection Law offers broader protections than the State’s General Business Law, enacting a private right of action would provide meaningful additional protection to the City’s consumers.

We appreciate your consideration.

Consumer Affairs Committee
Donald S. Maurice, Chair
Carey Alexander, Member

February 2026