Committee Legislative Successes – 2025 NYS Legislative Session

*This page will be updated as bills are acted on by the Governor

Bills Signed into Law by the Governor

• New York Emerging Technology Amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code (A.3307-A AM Bores) / S.1840-A Sen. Hoylman-Sigal, Chp. 579) – modernizes, rationalizes, and clarifies the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) so that it effectively governs the commercial law aspects of important transactions in digital assets.  The Amendments include introducing a new Article 12 for controllable electronic records, allowing electronic promissory notes and bills of exchange, and facilitating electronic commerce by recognizing electronic equivalents of “written” or “signed” requirements. The Amendments are designed to maintain New York’s leadership in commercial and financial transactions, particularly in the digital asset space, by enhancing transactional certainty and efficiency.  Benefits include promoting technological advancements, retaining New York’s role as a global financial leader, and supporting the state’s attractiveness to multinational businesses. The Amendments will also assist the Commercial Division of New York courts by clarifying jurisdiction over technology-related disputes.  This bill was supported by the Presidential Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies and is a 2025 New York State Legislative Agenda item.

• Uniform Special Deposits Act (A.5345 AM Hunter / S.4323 Sen. Krueger, Chp. 583) – would create a versatile new type of bank account – a “Special Deposit” – designed to safeguard the trillions of dollars involved in everyday transactions by New York consumers and businesses.  The Act would permit depositors and their banks to “opt-in” to clear statutory rules that will protect a Special Deposit from premature creditor interference or the bankruptcy of the depositor. In particular, the Act would give banks and their customers a flexible payment mechanism to ensure safe, secure and efficient payments to account beneficiaries. It will also protect all parties from uncertainties under existing law, including depositor bankruptcy risks and premature creditor claims. The Act would also enhance New York’s status as a preeminent commercial jurisdiction by giving banks a valuable new service to offer their customers and by avoiding the loss of business to other states that may adopt the Act.  This bill was supported by the Commercial Law and Uniform State Laws Committee and is a 2025 New York State Legislative Agenda item.
  

• Anti-Harassment in Reporting Bill (also known as the Confidential Reporting Bill) (A.66-A AM Hevesi / S.550-A Sen. Brisport, Chp. 668, Approval Memo 49) - would benefit children and families by ending the anonymous reporting of alleged child maltreatment and requiring all reporters to identify themselves, thereby deterring false and malicious reporting.  Under current state law, anyone may call the child maltreatment hotline, for any reason, and anonymously lodge a report of abuse or neglect. Because members of the public are not required to provide any identifying information, this results in many false and malicious reports of child maltreatment. Some believe anonymous reporting is necessary because, without a guarantee of anonymity, individuals will hesitate to make a report (fearing it will lead to acts of retaliation and/or damage of familial, neighborly or community relationships).  However, because reports will continue to remain confidential under the bill, except for the investigating child protective specialists, protection of the reporters’ privacy and safety is expected.  This bill was supported by the Children and the Law Committee and the Council on Children; it is a 2025 New York State Legislative Agenda item.  

• Reasonable Accommodation Anti-Retaliation Act (A.4898 AM Clark / S.3398 Sen. Gounardes, Chp. 600) – would make clear that it is unlawful to retaliate against a worker for requesting a reasonable accommodation. Under the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), New York workers have long enjoyed the right to reasonable accommodation for various reasons, such as pregnancy, disability, religious observance, and domestic violence-related needs, so long as granting the accommodation would not cause an undue hardship to the employer. However, the NYSHRL does not expressly prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for seeking such accommodations. Some courts have interpreted that omission to mean that the act of requesting accommodation is not a protected activity under the NYSHRL’s retaliation provision. This gap in protections under New York State law is particularly striking, given that the NYSHRL’s federal and city counterparts—the Americans with Disabilities Act and New York City Human Rights Law—prohibit employers from punishing workers for requesting accommodations. This bill aligns the NYSHRL with its federal and city analogues. This bill was supported by the Sex and Law Committee.

• Enhance service of process procedures (A.8408 AM Dais / S.8175 Sen. Sepulveda, Chp. 563) – would amend New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act (SCPA) to streamline legal processes, reduce administrative costs, and maintain the reliability and integrity of service.  The proposed revisions to SCPA §307 would permit service by certified mail without return receipt, allowing for more efficient, cost-effective, and reliable service, including electronic methods when needed. Changes to SCPA §308 would amend the rules on service periods within and without the State while SCPA §309 would deem service by electronic means to be complete upon transmission of the process to the recipient. This bill was supported by the Trusts, Estates, and Surrogate’s Courts Committee and State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction Committee.

• Permit foreign-born adoptees, regardless of their age, to obtain a New York State birth certificate (A.1944 AM Paulin / S.3765 Sen. Hoylman-Sigal, Chp. 509, Approval Memo 5) – would replace the word “child” with “person of any age” in New York’s Public Health Law § 4138-b and would permit attorney-certified copies of adoption documents to prevent loss of originals. Currently, only those adopted before age 18 can receive such a certificate, leaving many adult adoptees reliant on foreign documents that may be inaccurate, in a different language, or unavailable because they were adopted from countries experiencing internal discord or adopted from countries that have an uncooperative relationship with the United States. This legislative change would significantly improve access to identity documents for adult adoptees, helping them participate fully in everyday life.  This bill was supported by the Council on Children.

• Electronic Wills Act (A.7856-A AM Lavine / S.7416-A Sen. Hoylman-Sigal, Chp. 637, Approval Memo 24) – will permit the electronic execution of wills in New York.  After initially opposing this legislation over gaps in security procedures, deficiencies in remote‑witnessing safeguards, and ambiguities surrounding the definition and filing of electronic wills, the Commercial Law and Uniform State Laws Committee ultimately supported enactment with the adoption of chapter amendments.  The Committee worked collaboratively with the bill’s supporters to help shape amendments that would address their concerns while still modernizing New York’s estate planning laws. These conversations ultimately informed revisions to the bill language outlined in the Governor’s approval memo and helped ensure that critical safeguards would be considered in the implementation phase.

• New York State Coerced Debt Bill (A.3038-A AM Rosenthal / S.1353-A Sen. Cleare, Chp. 710, Approval Memo 85) – would prohibit creditors from enforcing consumer debts incurred through fraud, duress, intimidation, threat, force, identity theft, or similar economic abuse, and would establish a right of action for debtors to seek relief.  The bill aims to address certain financial abuse by amending the New York General Business Law to protect domestic violence survivors from being held liable for debt created through fraud, coercion, or abuse. Domestic violence does not always involve physical abuse. Financial abuse is prevalent in relationships involving domestic violence and includes behaviors that control the survivor’s access to money, employment, and/or their ability to acquire, use, or maintain financial resources. Coerced debt is a form of financial abuse and refers to any non-consensual, credit-related transaction demanded or coerced by an abusive partner. It is a pervasive problem for many survivors but New York currently lacks a legal remedy for coerced debt.  This bill was supported by the Domestic Violence Committee and Sex and Law Committee.

• Shield Law 2.0 (A.5480-C AM Bronson) / S.4914-B Sen. Hoylman-Sigal, Chp. 694, Approval Memo 71) – would protect access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare. As more than half of U.S. states have enacted restrictions or bans on abortion and gender-affirming care, particularly targeting youth, patients are increasingly turning to telehealth and out-of-state providers for access. Some states are attempting to criminalize or sue providers and supporters, even across state lines, for offering care that remains legal elsewhere, including in New York. The proposed Shield Law 2.0 strengthens New York’s existing protections by closing loopholes and reinforcing safeguards for both healthcare professionals and sensitive patient data. It limits access to private medical records by requiring affirmations that subpoenas are not connected to out-of-state prosecutions for legal care, and penalizes false affirmations. It also clarifies that professionals, including therapists, clinicians, and attorneys, cannot face disciplinary action for providing or supporting legal care in New York. These provisions aim to maintain New York as a sanctuary for comprehensive healthcare, defend providers from politically motivated legal actions, and preserve patient privacy.  This bill was supported by the Sex and Law, Civil Rights, Health Law and LGBTQ Rights Committees.
  

• No-fault Separation (S.1261-ASen. Krueger / A.3392-AAM Lavine, Chp. 673, Approval Memo 54) – would establish no-fault separation and make related gender-based language changes. This legislation modernizes family law by allowing couples to legally separate without proving fault, reducing conflict and streamlining court proceedings. This bill was supported by the Matrimonial Law Committee, in collaboration with the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

• New York Medical Aid in Dying Bill (A.136 AM Paulin) / S.138 Sen. Hoylman-Sigal, Chp. 714, Approval Memo 89) – would allow a terminally ill, mentally capable adult (with a life expectancy of six months or less) to receive a prescription to self-administer a lethal medication, so long as certain safeguards are met.  In urging the Governor to sign the bill into law, the Committee highlighted the bill’s requirement that physicians inform patients about palliative care and hospice and urged that improved access to those services be pursued concurrently with the implementation of the bill. This bill was supported by the Bioethical Issues Committee.

Budget Successes

• Judiciary Budget Proposal Adopted in Full – Supported by the Council on Judicial Administration and Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee
• $100 million in Funding Allocated for the Victims of Crime Act Contracts Through 2028 – Supported by the Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee
• $40 million Allocated for the Homeowner Protection Program – Supported by the Pro Bono and Legal Services Committee

Learn More!

2025 New York State Legislative Session Wrap Up 

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