What's happening
The Empire State Licensing Act prohibits discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status in professional and business licensing in New York.
Why it matters
Removes barriers for immigrants and non-citizens to access professional licenses. , which can increase economic opportunity, workforce participation, and fill critical shortages in fields like healthcare, education, and business.
Mandates that licensing agencies cannot ask about or require proof of citizenship or immigration status. , which protects applicants from discrimination and reduces the risk of personal data being used for immigration enforcement.
Requires confidentiality and limits data retention. Agencies must safeguard any information that could reveal an applicant's place of birth or immigration status, minimizing the risk of misuse or inadvertent disclosure to outside parties, including federal authorities.
Requires agencies to recognize relevant experience gained abroad and provide language access. This can help skilled immigrants use their qualifications in New York, rather than being forced into lower-wage work, and ensures that language is not a barrier unless English proficiency is essential for public safety.
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Headline styles
End License Barriers for Immigrants
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Recommitted to rules
- Ordered to third reading cal.1700
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Print number 1086d
- Amend and recommit to investigations and government operations
- Print number 1086c
- Amend and recommit to investigations and government operations
- Print number 1086b
- Amend and recommit to investigations and government operations
- Referred to investigations and government operations
- Print number 1086a
- Amend (t) and recommit to investigations and government operations
Show 1 earlier action
- Referred to investigations and government operations
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
End License Bias for Immigrants
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Catalina Cruz
Full text
9 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1086--D
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 8, 2025
Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, BAILEY, BRISPORT, BROUK, CLEARE, COMRIE, COONEY, FAHY, GONZALEZ, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, LIU, MAY, PARKER, RAMOS, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, WEBB -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on… Show allHide
Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, BAILEY, BRISPORT, BROUK, CLEARE, COMRIE, COONEY, FAHY, GONZALEZ, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, LIU, MAY, PARKER, RAMOS, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO, WEBB -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -recommitted to the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, the public officers law, the tax law, the general obligations law, the education law, the alcoholic beverage control law, the general city law, the general business law, the labor law and the judiciary law, in relation to enacting the empire state licensing act; and to repeal certain provisions of the education law, the alcoholic beverage control law and the public health law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "empire state licensing act".
§ 2. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new article 4-D to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4-D
RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANTS IN LICENSING Section 49. Definitions.
49-a. Nondiscrimination based on citizenship or immigration
status.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01691-26-6
49-b. Application; confidentiality.
§ 49. Definitions. When used in this article, unless the context requires otherwise:
1. "License" shall mean any state or local government issued professional, occupational, commercial, or business license, registration, permit, certificate, or any other state or local government issued permission to operate in New York state.
2. "Issuing entity" shall mean any state or local government department, board, bureau, commission, or other public entity that issues licenses, permits, certificates or any other state or local government issued permission to operate.
§ 49-a. Nondiscrimination based on citizenship or immigration status. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no otherwise qualified applicant for a license or renewal thereof, shall be denied to any individual or entity based on the immigration or citizenship status of such applicant.
2. Any existing requirement based on United States citizenship or permanent residence shall be deemed null and void for the issuing or renewal of a license, as defined in section forty-nine of this article.
3. No issuing entity shall inquire into, request or require proof of an applicant's citizenship, lawful immigration status, country of birth or national origin.
4. If an issuing entity does not currently have a policy in place for reviewing and analyzing relevant experience obtained in the United States or abroad, such issuing entity shall create a policy for evaluating experience for substantial equivalency to existing requirements in a relevant field. Provided, however, that such policy shall be available to the public and posted on the entity's website, if any.
5. When English-language proficiency is determined to not be necessary by an issuing entity to issue or maintain a license, the application process, including any related examination under the issuing entity, shall be made accessible in an applicant's primary language.
§ 49-b. Application; confidentiality. 1. Every issuing entity shall create and/or maintain processes for the protection from disclosure of identifying information for any purpose other than those required by law, and to comply with the confidentiality requirements herein.
2. The issuing entity shall not retain originals or copies of any documents that may be probative of an applicant's place of birth, including, but not limited to, an applicant's birth certificate, consular identification card, passport, social security card, or individual taxpayer identification number card, for longer than the time needed to review the application. Nothing in this subdivision shall prevent the issuing or registering entity from retaining documents where such documents are required by law to be preserved for the purposes of litigation.
3. The issuing entity shall not disclose information or documents collected that may be probative of an applicant's place of birth, including, but not limited to, country of passport issuance, birth certificate, consular identification card, passport, social security number or social security card, or individual taxpayer identification number or individual taxpayer identification card unless such disclosure is:
(a) authorized in writing by the individual to whom such information pertains, or if such individual is a minor or is otherwise not legally competent, by such individual's parent or legal guardian; or
(b) necessary to comply with a lawful court order, judicial warrant signed by a judge appointed pursuant to article III of the United States constitution, or properly-issued subpoena.
4. To the extent disclosure of confidential information or documents to another state entity is required pursuant to state law, such information and/or documents shall be treated as confidential and not further disclosed by the receiving entity, consistent with the requirements of subdivision three of this section.
5. All issuing entities, and any other state entity that may subsequently receive confidential information and/or documents, shall ensure any information and/or documents that are stored electronically, including but not limited to in databases, shall be compliant with the provisions of subdivision two of this section. Passive electronic access to confidential information and/or documents by external individuals or entities, when disclosure is not otherwise permitted pursuant to subdivision two of this section, shall constitute an unlawful disclosure.
6. Whenever disclosure is permitted pursuant to court order, warrant, or subpoena, the issuing entity shall provide the individual to whom the information and/or documents pertain with a copy of the court order, warrant, or subpoena within three business days of its receipt. Only such information or documents specifically sought pursuant to such court order, warrant, or subpoena shall be disclosed.
§ 3. Subparagraphs vii and viii of paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 89 of the public officers law, as amended by section 2 of part GGG of chapter 59 of the laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows:
vii. disclosure of electronic contact information, such as an e-mail address or a social network username, that has been collected from a taxpayer under section one hundred four of the real property tax law; [or]
viii. disclosure of law enforcement arrest or booking photographs of an individual, unless public release of such photographs will serve a specific law enforcement purpose and disclosure is not precluded by any state or federal laws; or
ix. disclosure of information obtained through application for any state or local government issued professional, occupational, commercial, or business license, registration, permit, certificate, or any other state or local government issued permission to operate in New York.
§ 4. Subdivision 2 and subparagraph 3 of paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 5 of the tax law, as amended by chapter 170 of the laws of 1994, are amended to read as follows:
2. Requiring information. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, every covered agency shall, as part of the procedure for granting, renewing, amending, supplementing or restating the license of any person or at the time the covered agency contracts to purchase or purchases goods or services or leases real or personal property from any person, require that each such person provide to the covered agency such person's federal social security account number [or], federal employer identification number, or [both such numbers when such person has both such numbers, or, where such person does not have such number or numbers, the reason or reasons why such person does not have such number or numbers] the federal individual taxpayer identification number. Such numbers [or reasons] shall be obtained by such covered agency as part of the administration of the taxes administered by the commissioner for the purpose of establishing the identification of persons affected by such taxes.
(3) federal social security account number [or], federal employer identification number, or [both such numbers where such person has both such numbers, or the reason or reasons, furnished by such person, why such person does not have such number or numbers] the federal individual taxpayer identification number.
§ 5. Subdivision 2 of section 3-503 of the general obligations law, as amended by chapter 398 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
2. Every applicant for a license or renewal thereof shall provide [his or her] their social security number or federal individual taxpayer identification number on the application. Additionally, every applicant for a license or renewal thereof shall certify in the application in a written statement under oath, duly sworn and subscribed, that as of the date the application is filed [he or she] such applicant is (or is not) under obligation to pay child support and that if [he or she is] they are under such an obligation, that [he or she] such applicant does (or does not) meet one of the following requirements:
a. [he or she] the applicant is not four months or more in arrears in the payment of child support; or
b. [he or she] the applicant is making payments by income execution or by court agreed payment or repayment plan or by plan agreed to by the parties; or
c. the child support obligation is the subject of a pending court proceeding; or
d. [he or she] the applicant is receiving public assistance or supplemental security income.
§ 6. Paragraph (f) of subdivision 6 of section 6506 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 7. Subdivision 6 of section 6524 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 8. Paragraph 1 of subdivision 1 of section 6525 of the education law, as amended by chapter 133 of the laws of 1982, is amended to read as follows:
(1) A person who fulfills all requirements for a license as a physician except those relating to the examination [and citizenship or permanent residence in the United States];
§ 9. The opening paragraph of subdivision (a) of section 6528 of the education law, as amended by chapter 122 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as follows:
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article or any law to the contrary, an individual who at the time of [his] their enrollment in a medical school outside the United States is a resident of the United States shall be eligible for licensure in this state if [he] such individual has satisfied the requirements of subdivisions one, five, [six,] seven and eight of section sixty-five hundred twenty-four of this [chapter] article and:
§ 10. Subdivision 6 of section 6554 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 11. Subdivision 6 of section 6604 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 12. Subdivision 7 of section 6604-b of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 13. Subdivision 6 of section 6609 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 14. Subdivision 6 of section 6704 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 15. Paragraph 1 of subdivision 1 of section 6707 of the education law, as amended by chapter 133 of the laws of 1982, is amended to read as follows:
(1) A person who fulfills all requirements for a license as a veterinarian except those relating to the examination [and citizenship or permanent residence in the United States];
§ 16. Subdivision 6 of section 6711 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 17. Subdivision 1 of section 6711-a of the education law, as amended by chapter 333 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows:
1. Eligibility. Persons shall be eligible for a limited permit who fulfill all requirements for a license as a veterinary technician except those relating to the examination [and citizenship or permanent residence in the United States].
§ 18. Paragraph 6 of subdivision 1 of section 6805 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 19. Subdivision 6 of section 6905 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 20. Subdivision 6 of section 6906 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 21. Subdivision 6 of section 6955 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 22. Section 6956 of the education law, as amended by chapter 216 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
§ 6956. Prior nurse-midwifery certification. Any individual who is certified as a nurse-midwife [pursuant to section twenty-five hundred sixty of the public health law] before June first, nineteen hundred ninety-six, shall be deemed to be licensed as a midwife under this article; provided that each such certified nurse-midwife shall, prior to that date, submit evidence of such certification to the department together with the appropriate fee required by subdivision seven of section sixty-nine hundred fifty-five of this article. Any individual certified as a nurse-midwife [pursuant to section twenty-five hundred sixty of the public health law] (i) may practice under that section until it is repealed, but (ii) shall not practice pursuant to this article until after receiving approval from the commissioner and submitting the fee required by subdivision seven of section sixty-nine hundred fifty-five of this article.
§ 23. Subdivision 6 of section 7004 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 24. Subdivision 6 of section 7104 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 25. Paragraph 6 of subdivision a of section 7124 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 26. Paragraph 6 of subdivision 1 of section 7206 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 27. Paragraph 6 of subdivision 1 of section 7206-a of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 28. Paragraph 6 of subdivision 1 of section 7304 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 29. Paragraph 6 of subdivision 1 of section 7324 of the education law is REPEALED.
§ 30. Paragraph 6 of subdivision 1 of section 7404 of the education law is REPEALED.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil rights law, the public officers law, the tax law, the general obligations law, the education law, the alcoholic beverage control law, the general city law, the general business law, the labor law and the judiciary law, in relation to enacting the empire state licensing act; and to repeal certain provisions of the education law, the alcoholic beverage control law and the public health law relat- ing thereto
Purpose
To provide all New Yorkers with access to professional, occupational, commercial, or business licenses, permits, certificates, or related registrations, regardless of an applicant's citizenship or immigration status, or lack thereof, and thus promote economic vitality.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 provides that this act shall be known and may be cited as the "Empire State Licensing Act."
Read the full memo (1,057 words)
Section 2 adds article 4-D to the Civil Rights Law, as an affirmative enactment that no applicant shall be denied a professional, occupa- tional, commercial, or business license, permit, certificate, or any other substantially similar permission, or related registration, on account of their immigration status. It also allows for the provision of an individual taxpayer identification number whenever a social security number would be otherwise required.
This section also protects sensitive information and documents and requires that:
*Information or documents related to an applicant's citizenship or immi- gration status, or lack thereof, shall not be solicited.
*Information or documents that may be probative of an applicant's place of birth, except a social security number/card or individual taxpayer identification number/card, are only solicited when necessary to estab- lish age, if relevant, or identity, and a New York driver's license or learner's permit, or similar document issued by another state, district, or territory within the United States, shall be sufficient for such purposes.
*Originals or copies of any documents that may be probative of an appli- cant's place of birth are retained only for as long as is required to review the application.
*To the maximum extent allowed by applicable federal and state law, information or documents that may be probative of an applicant's place of birth shall be treated as confidential and not subject to disclosure unless at the request of the individual to whom such information pertains (or parent or legal guardian) or as is necessary to comply with a court order, judicial warrant, or subpoena.
*Individuals shall be provided with a copy of any court order, judicial warrant, or subpoena for information or documents pertaining to them within three business days of receipt, and only what is specifically sought shall be disclosed. If confidential information or documents must be disclosed to another state entity pursuant to state law, the receiv- ing entity shall have the same obligation to maintain confidentiality and protect against disclosure. For the avoidance of doubt, electron- ically stored information and documents are included. Passive electronic access by non-authorized parties is prohibited.
Section 3 amends subparagraphs vii and viii of paragraph (b) of subdivi- sion 2 of section 89 of the Public Officers Law, as it relates to gener- al provisions relating to access to records for certain cases, to make clear that information that might indicate an applicant's citizenship or immigration status is not subject to disclosure as it would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
Sections 4 through 38 amends or repeal provisions of the Tax Law, Gener- al Obligations Law, Education Law, Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, General City Law, Public Health Law, General Business Law, Labor Law, and Judiciary Law to make conforming changes.
Section 39 provides a severability clause.
Section 40 provides that the law shall become effective on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law, with any addi- tion, amendment, and/or repeal of rule or regulation necessary for the implementation to be authorized immediately.
Justification
The number of jobs requiring licenses has increased dramatically over the past 60 years. Currently, over 1,100 different occupations require a license and approximately 25 percent of all workers nationwide are required to obtain one in order to work in their occupations. Examples of such professions include attorneys, nurses, massage therapists, land- scape architects, barbers, real estate brokers, food salvagers, and teachers. Talented and otherwise qualified applicants are currently precluded from acquiring certain professional licenses, permits, certif- ications, and registrations in the State of New York due to lack of citizenship or immigration status.
While New York has enacted some policies that enable lawfully present individuals with work authorization to access certain professional licenses, many noncitizens are left out. It is critical for New York to ensure lawfully present individuals can continue to be an integral part of the state's workforce and economy.
More than one-third of adult lawfully present individuals in New York have a college degree or further education. Without access to occupa- tional and professional licenses and business registration, many of these individuals will not be able to pursue careers in occupations in which they are trained, depriving individuals of fully benefiting from their skills.
Other noncitizens forego higher education or specialized training because of licensing restrictions. Licensure barriers for noncitizens also prevent the State from benefiting from the full tax revenue of noncitizens, as the inability to obtain licenses constricts noncitizen incomes. On average, licensed workers earn higher wages and hold increased job security.
This bill addresses access barriers for lawfully present individuals for the acquisition of professional, occupational, commercial, and business licenses for noncitizen applicants, as they do not comport with prevail- ing principles underlying jurisprudence of equity and fairness. This unjustifiable exclusion undermines New York's efforts to promote econom- ic growth and support lawfully present individual communities. Our State recognizes the value of providing every New Yorker with the opportunity to apply for and acquire licenses, permits, certifications, and regis- trations if they are otherwise qualified for the interests of fostering entrepreneurship and economic growth in the community-at-large.
Prior legislative history
2019-2020: S8481/A10633 Cruz
2021-2022: S3046/A1952 Cruz
2023-2024: S5964/A8263 Cruz
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become law; provided. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment, and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
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