Assembly Bill A8977

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8977
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              August 13, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ROSENTHAL  --  read once and referred to the
   Committee on Economic Development
 
 AN ACT to amend the general business law,  in  relation  to  prohibiting
   bail  enforcement  agents  from  using their position to enforce immi-
   gration actions

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 84 of the general business law, as
 amended  by  chapter  84  of  the  laws  of  2001, is amended to read as
 follows:
   1. It is unlawful for the holder of a license, issued under this arti-
 cle, or for any employee of such licensee, knowingly to  commit  any  of
 the  following  acts within or without the state of New York: to incite,
 encourage, or aid in the incitement or encouragement of  any  person  or
 persons  who  have  become  a  party  to any strike, to do unlawful acts
 against the person or property of any one, or to incite, stir up, create
 or aid in the  inciting  of  discontent  or  dissatisfaction  among  the
 employees  of any person, firm, limited liability company or corporation
 with the intention of having them strike; to interfere or prevent lawful
 and peaceful picketing during strikes; to interfere with,  restrain,  or
 coerce  employees in the exercise of their right to form, join or assist
 any labor organization of their own choosing; to interfere or hinder the
 lawful or peaceful collective bargaining between employees  and  employ-
 ers;  to  pay, offer, or give any money, gratuity, favor, consideration,
 or other thing of value, directly or indirectly, to any person  for  any
 verbal  or  written  report of the lawful activities of employees in the
 exercise of their right of self-organization, to form, join,  or  assist
 labor  organizations and to bargain collectively through representatives
 of their own choosing; to advertise for, recruit, furnish or replace  or
 offer  to  furnish  or replace for hire or reward, within or without the
 state of New York, any help  or  labor,  skilled  or  unskilled,  or  to
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13468-02-5
              

 A. 8977                             2
 
 furnish or offer to furnish armed guards, other than armed guards there-
 tofore  regularly  employed  for the protection of payrolls, property or
 premises, for service upon property which is being  operated  in  antic-
 ipation  of  or  during  the course or existence of a strike, or furnish
 armed guards upon the highways, for persons involved in  labor  disputes
 or  to  furnish  or  offer  to furnish to employers or their agents, any
 arms, munitions, tear gas implements, or any other weapons; or  to  send
 letters or literature to employers offering to eliminate labor unions or
 distribute  or circulate any list of members of a labor organization, or
 to advise any person of the membership  of  an  individual  in  a  labor
 organization  for  the  express purpose of preventing those so listed or
 named from obtaining or retaining employment. The violation  of  any  of
 the  provisions of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall
 be punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred  dollars,  or  one
 year's  imprisonment or both. It is unlawful for the holder of a license
 to collect or offer or attempt to  collect  or  directly  or  indirectly
 engage  in  the  business  of collecting of debts or claims of any kind,
 excepting that the taking possession,  on  behalf  of  a  secured  party
 having the right to do so under section 9--609 of the uniform commercial
 code, of property in the possession of a debtor who has defaulted in the
 performance  of a security agreement secured by such property, shall not
 be considered a violation of this section and excepting further that the
 secretary of state may grant exemption  from  this  prohibition  in  the
 collection  of  debts  to  licensees  who are principally engaged in the
 business of credit investigation and credit reporting.  It  is  unlawful
 for the holder of a license to furnish or perform any services described
 in  subdivisions one and two of section seventy-one of this article on a
 contingent or percentage basis or to make or enter  into  any  agreement
 for furnishing services of any kind or character, by the terms or condi-
 tions  of  which agreement the compensation to be paid for such services
 to the holder of a license is partially or wholly  contingent  or  based
 upon  a  percentage  of  the  amount  of  money or property recovered or
 dependent in any way upon the result achieved. It shall be unlawful  for
 a  holder  of a license to use, display, cause to be printed or distrib-
 uted, cards, letter-heads, circulars, brochures or any other advertising
 material or advertisement in which any name or indicia  of  the  license
 status  of  the  licensee is set forth in any manner other than the name
 under which the licensee is duly licensed. It is unlawful for a licensed
 private investigator or bail enforcement agent to own, have  or  possess
 or  in  any manner to wear, exhibit or display, a shield or badge of any
 material, kind, nature or description, in the performance of any of  the
 activities as private investigator or bail enforcement agent, as distin-
 guished  from  watch,  guard or patrol agency, under this article. It is
 unlawful for a licensed private investigator or bail  enforcement  agent
 to  issue  to any person employed by such licensee, a badge or shield of
 any material, kind, nature or description, and it is  unlawful  for  any
 person employed by such licensee to possess, carry or display a badge or
 shield  of  any  description provided that any licensed private investi-
 gator or bail enforcement agent who also  engages  in  the  business  of
 watch,  guard  or  patrol agency may possess, use or display or issue to
 employees in the conduct of such business, a rectangular metal or  woven
 insignia to be worn on the outer clothing and approved by the department
 of  state,  which insignia shall not be larger than three inches high or
 four inches wide with an inscription thereon containing the word "watch-
 man", "guard", "patrol" or "special service" and the name of the  licen-
 see.  It  shall  be  unlawful for any licensee to publish or cause to be
 A. 8977                             3
 
 published any advertisement, letter-head, circular, statement or  phrase
 of  any  sort  which suggests that the licensee is an official police or
 investigative agency or any other agency instrumentality of the state of
 New  York or any of its political subdivisions. It shall be unlawful for
 any licensee to make any statement which would reasonably cause  another
 person  to  believe  that  the  licensee is a police officer or official
 investigator of the state of New York or any of its  political  subdivi-
 sions.  It  shall  be  unlawful for a licensee to offer, by radio, tele-
 vision, newspaper advertisement or any other means of communication,  to
 perform services at any location which is merely the location of a tele-
 phone  answer service unless full disclosure of that fact is made in the
 advertisement.  IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A BAIL ENFORCEMENT AGENT TO USE
 SUCH BAIL  ENFORCEMENT  AGENT'S  POSITION  TO  ENFORCE  ANY  IMMIGRATION
 ACTION.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.