Enacts the New York consumer and worker protection act

BILL NUMBER:S3713

Title of bill

An act to amend the general business law, the state finance law, the general obligations law, the labor law and the executive law, in relation to enacting the "New York consumer and worker protection act"

Purpose or general idea of bill

To stem the flow of skilled and unskilled labor out of New York state; end state taxpayer subsidies for moving American jobs overseas; protect the security of sensitive, private medical and financial personal information; and to prevent the Governor from committing the state to government procurement agreements with foreign countries without ratification by the state legislature.

Summary of specific provisions

Section one names the bill the New York consumer and worker protection act.

Section two amends the state general business law to require the full disclosure to consumers of foreign outsourcing of professional and consumer services, including health, accounting, banking, mortgage, and income tax preparation services.

Section three amends the state finance law to prohibit the outsourcing of state work, state procurement of services, and municipal government procurement when state funds are used. The section also requires businesses receiving state economic development assistance to report annually to the attorney general and granting agency information about the development assistance received and the amount of employment gained or lost in the state.

Section four amends the state general obligations law to require that businesses receive prior written consent from consumers before transmitting their sensitive personal information overseas.

Section five amends the state labor law to require that businesses planning on moving domestic jobs overseas provide 180-day notice to affected employees and the department of labor, and prohibits workers displaced by foreign out sourced employees from being required to train their foreign replacements as a condition of receiving their severance pay.

Section six requires the governor to obtain legislative ratification of any multinational government procurement agreement before entering into any such agreement.

Existing law

Current law places no restriction on the types or numbers of domestic jobs that can be sent overseas.

Justification

Millions of jobs and billions of dollars in wages have already been outsourced offshore, and the strategy has been growing sharply in recent years. The trend presents two distinct dangers: the loss of jobs at a time when our state and nation struggle to recover from the economic downturn, and the distribution of sensitive personal information in income tax returns, banking, mortgage and medical records to foreign countries without the same consumer fraud and identity theft protections as exist in the United States.

Legislative history

2010: S.3814 2007: A.645 2006: A.10515 2005: S.1597 2004: S.6935 - Referred to Consumer Protection

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

One hundred eighty days after it shall become law.