Senator Hinchey And Senate Majority Pass Package of Bills to Help Small Businesses Build Back From COVID-19

Albany, NY...State Senator Michelle Hinchey (SD-46), together with the Senate Majority, passed legislation on Tuesday to further support small businesses that have experienced the brunt of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislative package extends eviction and foreclosure protections to commercial properties, promotes the shared work eligibility program, freezes unemployment insurance rates, and establishes a partial-unemployment system, among other protections. 

“Small businesses and their employees are critical to both our economic well-being and growth in New York State, but they are struggling to survive right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Senator Hinchey. “The package of bills we passed this week extends needed protections that will help our small businesses stay in business and includes measures that will allow them to avoid layoffs, reduce expenses, and pause eviction and foreclosure proceedings. This is about supporting owners, workers, and their families and giving our small businesses the greatest chance for recovery when we reach the other side of this crisis.”

The bills passed this week by Senator Hinchey, and the State Senate include: 

• COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Business Act: This bill, S.471A, establishes the COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Business Act to protect small businesses with COVID-19 related financial hardships from eviction and foreclosure through May 1.
   
• Increased Outreach From DOL on the Shared Work Program: This bill, S.18A, creates a requirement for the Department of Labor to increase their efforts to provide information to employers about shared work program eligibility and have information available on the Department's website. The shared work program can help reduce layoffs and is fully funded by the federal CARES Act during the pandemic.
   
• Freezing Employers Unemployment Insurance Premiums: This bill, S.1197, freezes New York State’s unemployment insurance experience rating for one year for layoffs and closures that occurred due to COVID-19. This action will prevent significant increases in costs to employers who have experienced higher unemployment rates in 2020.
   
• Partial Unemployment Insurance: This bill, S.1042A, establishes a system of partial-unemployment. This would shift the current calculation that any day of work leads to a 25% reduction in benefits and instead would reduce benefits by an amount proportional to the amount earned. This legislation will help incentivize part-time work by reducing the disincentive that a day of work will lead to a disproportionate reduction of benefits.
   
• Third-Party Restaurant Posting: This bill, S.1630A, prohibits any third-party food delivery platform from listing, selling, or advertising products of any food service establishment without a written agreement with them.
   
• Restricting Third-Party Delivery Fees: This bill, S.1554B, creates a maximum limit for the total fee that can be charged to a food service establishment by a third-party food delivery service (such as Grubhub, Seamless, Doordash, etc.)
   

Senator Michelle Hinchey represents the 46th Senate District, which includes Greene and Montgomery Counties and parts of Albany, Schenectady, and Ulster Counties. Senator Hinchey serves as Chair of the Agriculture and Food Committee and sits on the Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business, Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation, Energy and Telecommunications, Environmental Conservation, and Local Government Committees.

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