Mayor Mamdani is pushing the POWER Act, which would allow residents, workers, small businesses and nonprofits to sue companies that engage in unfair or deceptive business practices. Council Member Harvey Epstein is set to introduce the bill at the City Council's stated meeting on Oct. 8, and a bill to simplify price-labeling rules will be introduced alongside it.
On the 6th, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Samuel Levine, commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), announced plans for the People and Organizations Winning Economic Relief (POWER) Act, which would allow residents, workers, small businesses and nonprofits to sue businesses that engage in unfair practices. Harvey Epstein, chair of the City Council's Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, is set to introduce the bill on the mayor's behalf at the stated meeting on Oct. 8.
Under current New York State consumer protection law, individuals can sue only over "deceptive practices," while unfair or abusive business practices are not covered. The POWER Act would create a private right of action at the city level, allowing tenants, workers, small businesses and nonprofits harmed by unfair methods of competition or by unfair, deceptive, abusive or illegal practices to go to court directly. Until now, they have often had to rely on enforcement by government agencies.
Examples cited by the city include a tenant association suing a landlord over a wrongfully withheld security deposit, a taxi driver suing a lender that imposed unreasonable loan terms, and a consumer deceived by a fraudulent for-profit school seeking loan relief. Nonprofits could file suit on behalf of themselves, their members and the public at large. The bill takes effect only if the City Council passes it, and no implementation date has been set.
The mayor is also introducing two consumer protection bills. The Truth in Pricing Act would simplify price-labeling rules, which now vary by store size and product type, by letting business owners choose whether to put price tags on products directly or on shelves. The other would amend the consumer protection law to eliminate the lengthy rulemaking process the DCWP must go through before it can act against unfair business practices. Council Member Chris Ose will introduce that amendment.