Senate Passes Legislation to Ease the Regulatory Burdens on New York's Businesses

The New York State Senate today helped address the regulatory burden that businesses face by giving final passage to a measure that enhances the public’s ability to provide input on proposed regulations and passing legislation to prevent businesses from being penalized for unintentionally submitting outdated forms.  

Final passage was given to a bill (S6729), sponsored by Senator Terrence Murphy (R-C-I, Yorktown), which increases the amount of time notice must be given for public hearings on proposed rules and regulations for significant environmental matters. The legislation would amend the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA) to increase the amount of notice from 30 to 45 days on issues pertaining to: labeling ingredients of detergents and other household cleansing products; storage and release to the environment of substances hazardous or acutely hazardous to public health, safety, or the environment; air pollution control; and solid waste management and resource recovery facilities. This legislation provides the public with more time to review and prepare comments on such issues.

Senator Murphy said, “The passage of today’s regulatory reform bills sends yet another clear message to Governor Cuomo that action is needed to reduce the crushing burden of New York’s onerous regulations on small businesses.” 

The Senate today also passed legislation (S6027), sponsored by Senator John DeFrancisco (R-C-I, Syracuse), to allow businesses to resubmit state forms if they accidentally submit an outdated version. This bill would ensure that businesses, especially those with limited resources, would be able to correct the inadvertent submission of outdated state forms within a reasonable period of time without penalty.
 
Senator DeFrancisco said, “Businesses that act in good faith should not be penalized for inadvertently submitting previous versions of forms that are later revised by the state. While rules and regulations are important, we need to reduce the red tape that can hinder small businesses in New York State from growing and creating jobs.”

Bill S6729 has been sent to the Governor and bill S6027 has been sent to the Assembly.