STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8977
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
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:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 84 of the general business law, as
2 amended by chapter 84 of the laws of 2001, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. It is unlawful for the holder of a license, issued under this arti-
5 cle, or for any employee of such licensee, knowingly to commit any of
6 the following acts within or without the state of New York: to incite,
7 encourage, or aid in the incitement or encouragement of any person or
8 persons who have become a party to any strike, to do unlawful acts
9 against the person or property of any one, or to incite, stir up, create
10 or aid in the inciting of discontent or dissatisfaction among the
11 employees of any person, firm, limited liability company or corporation
12 with the intention of having them strike; to interfere or prevent lawful
13 and peaceful picketing during strikes; to interfere with, restrain, or
14 coerce employees in the exercise of their right to form, join or assist
15 any labor organization of their own choosing; to interfere or hinder the
16 lawful or peaceful collective bargaining between employees and employ-
17 ers; to pay, offer, or give any money, gratuity, favor, consideration,
18 or other thing of value, directly or indirectly, to any person for any
19 verbal or written report of the lawful activities of employees in the
20 exercise of their right of self-organization, to form, join, or assist
21 labor organizations and to bargain collectively through representatives
22 of their own choosing; to advertise for, recruit, furnish or replace or
23 offer to furnish or replace for hire or reward, within or without the
24 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
1 furnish or offer to furnish armed guards, other than armed guards there-
2 tofore regularly employed for the protection of payrolls, property or
3 premises, for service upon property which is being operated in antic-
4 ipation of or during the course or existence of a strike, or furnish
5 armed guards upon the highways, for persons involved in labor disputes
6 or to furnish or offer to furnish to employers or their agents, any
7 arms, munitions, tear gas implements, or any other weapons; or to send
8 letters or literature to employers offering to eliminate labor unions or
9 distribute or circulate any list of members of a labor organization, or
10 to advise any person of the membership of an individual in a labor
11 organization for the express purpose of preventing those so listed or
12 named from obtaining or retaining employment. The violation of any of
13 the provisions of this section shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall
14 be punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars, or one
15 year's imprisonment or both. It is unlawful for the holder of a license
16 to collect or offer or attempt to collect or directly or indirectly
17 engage in the business of collecting of debts or claims of any kind,
18 excepting that the taking possession, on behalf of a secured party
19 having the right to do so under section 9--609 of the uniform commercial
20 code, of property in the possession of a debtor who has defaulted in the
21 performance of a security agreement secured by such property, shall not
22 be considered a violation of this section and excepting further that the
23 secretary of state may grant exemption from this prohibition in the
24 collection of debts to licensees who are principally engaged in the
25 business of credit investigation and credit reporting. It is unlawful
26 for the holder of a license to furnish or perform any services described
27 in subdivisions one and two of section seventy-one of this article on a
28 contingent or percentage basis or to make or enter into any agreement
29 for furnishing services of any kind or character, by the terms or condi-
30 tions of which agreement the compensation to be paid for such services
31 to the holder of a license is partially or wholly contingent or based
32 upon a percentage of the amount of money or property recovered or
33 dependent in any way upon the result achieved. It shall be unlawful for
34 a holder of a license to use, display, cause to be printed or distrib-
35 uted, cards, letter-heads, circulars, brochures or any other advertising
36 material or advertisement in which any name or indicia of the license
37 status of the licensee is set forth in any manner other than the name
38 under which the licensee is duly licensed. It is unlawful for a licensed
39 private investigator or bail enforcement agent to own, have or possess
40 or in any manner to wear, exhibit or display, a shield or badge of any
41 material, kind, nature or description, in the performance of any of the
42 activities as private investigator or bail enforcement agent, as distin-
43 guished from watch, guard or patrol agency, under this article. It is
44 unlawful for a licensed private investigator or bail enforcement agent
45 to issue to any person employed by such licensee, a badge or shield of
46 any material, kind, nature or description, and it is unlawful for any
47 person employed by such licensee to possess, carry or display a badge or
48 shield of any description provided that any licensed private investi-
49 gator or bail enforcement agent who also engages in the business of
50 watch, guard or patrol agency may possess, use or display or issue to
51 employees in the conduct of such business, a rectangular metal or woven
52 insignia to be worn on the outer clothing and approved by the department
53 of state, which insignia shall not be larger than three inches high or
54 four inches wide with an inscription thereon containing the word "watch-
55 man", "guard", "patrol" or "special service" and the name of the licen-
56 see. It shall be unlawful for any licensee to publish or cause to be
A. 8977 3
1 published any advertisement, letter-head, circular, statement or phrase
2 of any sort which suggests that the licensee is an official police or
3 investigative agency or any other agency instrumentality of the state of
4 New York or any of its political subdivisions. It shall be unlawful for
5 any licensee to make any statement which would reasonably cause another
6 person to believe that the licensee is a police officer or official
7 investigator of the state of New York or any of its political subdivi-
8 sions. It shall be unlawful for a licensee to offer, by radio, tele-
9 vision, newspaper advertisement or any other means of communication, to
10 perform services at any location which is merely the location of a tele-
11 phone answer service unless full disclosure of that fact is made in the
12 advertisement. It shall be unlawful for a bail enforcement agent to use
13 such bail enforcement agent's position to enforce any immigration
14 action.
15 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
