Bill Text: NY S05666 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Bans the sale of employment data reports without written consumer consent; provides such employment data reports shall include, but not be limited to, payroll and earnings information, hours worked, consumer history and health insurance information.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION [S05666 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S05666-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5666

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 13, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. SCARCELLA-SPANTON -- read twice and ordered printed,
          and when  printed  to  be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Consumer
          Protection

        AN  ACT  to  amend the general business law, in relation to the sale and
          use of employment information

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.   Section 380-v of the general business law, as relettered
     2  by chapter 441 of the laws of 2014, is relettered section  380-w  and  a
     3  new section 380-v is added to read as follows:
     4    §  380-v.  Sale  and  use of employment information.   (a) No consumer
     5  reporting agency or any subsidiary thereof  shall  sell  or  resell,  or
     6  offer  for  sale  or  resale or distribute employment information to any
     7  principal creditor, as that term is  defined  in  subdivision  three  of
     8  section  six  hundred  of  this chapter, or other debt collector without
     9  verifying that such sale, resale, or distribution was disclosed  to  the
    10  consumer  to  whom  such  employment  information pertains in a separate
    11  stand-alone document, and that written consent from  such  consumer  was
    12  obtained.   Employment information shall include, but not be limited to,
    13  payroll and earnings information, hours  worked,  consumer  history  and
    14  health insurance information.
    15    (b) Such disclosure and consumer consent shall be given in a separate,
    16  stand-alone  document and consent shall be limited to the particular use
    17  or transaction for which consent is given.
    18    (c) Wherever there shall be a violation of this section,  an  applica-
    19  tion  may  be  made by the attorney general in the name of the people of
    20  the state of New York to a court or justice  having  jurisdiction  by  a
    21  special  proceeding  to  issue  an  injunction,  and  upon notice to the
    22  defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin or restrain the  contin-
    23  uance  of  such violation; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of
    24  the court or justice that the defendant  has,  in  fact,  violated  this

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08590-01-3
        S. 5666                             2

     1  section, an injunction may be issued by such court or justice, enjoining
     2  and  restraining any further violation, without requiring proof that any
     3  person has, in fact, been  injured  or  damaged  thereby.  In  any  such
     4  proceeding,  the  court  may  make allowances to the attorney general as
     5  provided in paragraph six of subdivision  (a)  of  section  eighty-three
     6  hundred  three  of the civil practice law and rules, and direct restitu-
     7  tion. Whenever the court  shall  determine  that  a  violation  of  this
     8  section  has  occurred, the court may impose a civil penalty of not more
     9  than two thousand dollars for each violation.  In  connection  with  any
    10  such  proposed  application,  the attorney general is authorized to take
    11  proof and make a determination  of  the  relevant  facts  and  to  issue
    12  subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.
    13    (d) In addition to any right of action granted to the attorney general
    14  pursuant  to  this section, any person who has been injured by reason of
    15  any violation of this section may bring an action in his or her own name
    16  to enjoin such unlawful act or practice, an action to recover his or her
    17  compensatory damages and one thousand dollars, or both such actions. The
    18  court may, in its discretion, award the  prevailing  plaintiff  in  such
    19  action  an  additional award not to exceed five thousand dollars, if the
    20  court finds the defendant willfully  violated  the  provisions  of  this
    21  section.  The court may award reasonable attorneys' fees to a prevailing
    22  plaintiff.
    23    (e) Nothing in this section shall in any way limit the  rights,  reme-
    24  dies  or privileges that are otherwise available to a consumer at law or
    25  equity.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    27  it shall have become a law.