Int. No. 1132
By Council Members Feliz and Williams
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to geographically targeted regulatory compliance services for small businesses
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 10 of title 22 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 22-1008 to read as follows:
§ 22-1008 Geotargeted provision of regulatory compliance assistance.
a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Community district. The term “community district” means a district designated pursuant to chapter 69 of the New York city charter.
Violation. The term “violation” means a violation commonly issued to a business over which the office of administrative trials and hearings exercises jurisdiction pursuant to chapter 45-A.
b. No later than August 1, 2026 and annually thereafter, the department, in cooperation with the office of administrative trials and hearings, shall determine the number and types of violations issued to businesses in the preceding fiscal year within each community district, disaggregated by issuing agency and violation type. To the extent feasible, the department shall further determine the 5 most common types of violations issued to small businesses within each community district in the preceding year. Based on such determination, the department shall coordinate with relevant agencies to develop and deliver tailored regulatory compliance assistance services for each community district, as follows:
1. Such assistance shall include direct outreach and awareness-raising to small businesses in each community district, and may also include specially tailored education, training, or other appropriate assistance as determined by the department;
2. As appropriate, any education, training, or other assistance services developed pursuant to this section shall be made available on the portal created pursuant to subdivision a of section 22-1002;
3. Where a single type of violation is identified as among the 5 most common violations in multiple community districts, the department may offer similar assistance services to small businesses in all such community districts to the extent that the reason for the high frequency of such violations is also consistent across such districts; and
4. As appropriate, education, training, or other assistance services pursuant to this section may be conducted as part of a business education event pursuant to section 20-706.2.
c. The department shall include information on the specially tailored training, education, outreach, and assistance services for small businesses provided pursuant to this section as part of the annual report required pursuant to subdivision c of section 22-1003. Such information shall include:
1. The 10 most common types of violation issued to small businesses citywide;
2. The total number of businesses in each community district that received direct outreach regarding regulatory compliance services pursuant to this section, the sector or industry of such businesses, and the languages in which such outreach was conducted;
3. A list and short description of training and education modules developed pursuant to this section, a description of how such training and education modules were tailored to the specific compliance challenges identified within each community district, and the languages in which such training and education was offered; and
4. Any recommendations for improving support and resources to assist small businesses with regulatory compliance, or for streamlining or reducing regulatory compliance burdens where feasible.
§ 2. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law.
JLB
LS # 17712
11/26/2024 2:29 PM