Bill Text: NY S08131 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides for notice of intention to sell and notice of surplus to be made by e-mail or text message.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-08 - REFERRED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION [S08131 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08131-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8131

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 8, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. HARCKHAM -- 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  providing  for
          electronic notice for collateral loan brokers

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

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 49 of the general business law, as
     2  amended by chapter 594 of the laws  of  1997,  is  amended  to  read  as
     3  follows:
     4    1. [No pledge shall be sold unless written or printed notice of inten-
     5  tion  to sell with a statement of the article or articles to be sold has
     6  been first mailed by letter addressed to  the  pledgor  at  the  address
     7  given  at the time of pledging at least thirty days prior to the date of
     8  sale] Notwithstanding any general or special  statutes,  local  law  and
     9  ordinances  to the contrary, upon the tendering of a pledge, the pledgor
    10  shall provide a collateral loan broker an email address or phone  number
    11  to  be used in the event a pledge is not timely redeemed for purposes of
    12  providing a notice of intention to sell.  No pledge shall be sold unless
    13  a notice of intention to sell, with a statement of the article or  arti-
    14  cles  to be sold, is forwarded electronically, by email or text message,
    15  at least thirty days prior to the date of sale.    A  second  notice  of
    16  intention  to  sell  shall be forwarded electronically, by email or text
    17  message, to the pledgor at least fifteen days prior to the sale.  Alter-
    18  natively, a pledgor may at the time  of  tendering  a  pledge  elect  to
    19  receive  a  notice  of intention to sell by United States postal service
    20  mail with a statement of the articles to be sold by letter addressed  to
    21  the pledgor at the address given at the time of pledging at least thirty
    22  days  prior to the date of the sale.  A pledgor may at any time prior to
    23  the transmission of the second notice referenced above, or mailing of  a
    24  letter  addressed  to the pledgor, provide one or more updated addresses
    25  or phone numbers to be used for purposes of transmission of a notice  of
    26  intention  to  sell  and  the  collateral  loan broker shall accordingly
    27  employ a substitute new address or phone number. Copies  of  notices  of
    28  intention to sell sent pursuant to this subdivision shall be retained by

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13655-01-3
        S. 8131                             2

     1  a  collateral loan broker for not less than six years. If the sale shall
     2  be by public auction, then notice of every such sale shall be  published
     3  for  at  least  six  days previous thereto, in at least two of the daily
     4  newspapers  printed  in the city where the business shall be carried on,
     5  and also in two daily newspapers of the city where the sale is  to  take
     6  place  and to be designated by said mayor, and such notice shall specify
     7  the time and place at which such sale is to take place and the  name  of
     8  the  auctioneers  by  whom  the  same is to be conducted together with a
     9  statement of the class of pledges to be sold and the inclusive dates and
    10  numbers of the pawn tickets of the pledges to be sold. If the pledge, at
    11  such sale, shall be purchased back by the collateral  loan  broker,  the
    12  pledgor  shall  be entitled to redeem same within ten days thereafter by
    13  tendering to the collateral loan broker the amount of the loan with  the
    14  interest  due thereon, the amount of the auctioneer's lawful commission,
    15  lawful extra care charges, and the expense of the advertisement  of  the
    16  sale.
    17    §  2.  Subdivision  2  of  section  50 of the general business law, as
    18  amended by chapter 321 of the laws  of  1983,  is  amended  to  read  as
    19  follows:
    20    2. In the event there is any surplus money due to a pledgor after such
    21  sale,  the  collateral loan broker shall give the pledgor written notice
    22  thereof, by mailing to such pledgor, directed  to  him  at  the  address
    23  given  at the time of pledging or in the event such pledgor has notified
    24  the collateral loan broker, in writing, of a change of address, to  such
    25  new  address,  within  thirty days after such sale, a notice which shall
    26  state the name and address of the collateral loan broker, the number  of
    27  the  pledge,  the  date  of sale and the amount of any surplus, provided
    28  however that in the event that the collateral loan broker has  transmit-
    29  ted a notice of sale via electronic means pursuant to section forty-nine
    30  of  this article, the notice of surplus herein shall be transmitted in a
    31  manner identical to the means employed with  regard  to  the  notice  of
    32  sale,  provided further that such electronic notice shall be required to
    33  be transmitted one time to the electronic address provided by the  pled-
    34  gor  at  the  time  the  article  was pledged or to at least one or more
    35  alternative electronic addresses if provided, in writing, hard  copy  or
    36  electronic,  to  the  collateral loan broker by the pledgor prior to the
    37  transmittal of the notice of surplus as prescribed herein. In the  event
    38  any  person  entitled  to  such surplus fails to make claim for the same
    39  within one year from the date of such sale, such surplus shall  be  paid
    40  over, by the collateral loan broker, to the state comptroller in accord-
    41  ance  with  the  provisions of section one thousand three hundred one of
    42  the abandoned property law.
    43    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    44  it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition,  amend-
    45  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    46  tation  of  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
    47  completed on or before such effective date.