“It is a good day when the New York State Assembly stands with consumers. I am proud that my legislation to protect consumers from excessive or unexpected overdraft fees for paperless transactions has passed the Assembly.

“Working families in the 128^th District and New York State face serious economic challenges due to stubborn inflation and high mortgage rates. They struggle to pay for necessities like groceries, utilities, and housing. One way we can provide them meaningful relief is to establish overdraft protections for paperless transactions such as debit and credit cards.

“Protections against excessive overdrafts for check payments already exist; however, these same protections do not exist for paperless transactions, which are much more common today. My legislation would require the state Department of Financial Services to establish the same protections for these paperless transactions.

“Additionally, my legislation would task the department to develop rules about how these charges are imposed on consumers whose accounts are overdrawn and how account owners are informed and notified about overdraft processes.

“As the Chair of the Banking Committee and sponsor of this legislation, I thank my colleagues for advancing this commonsense legislation. I urge the Senate and Governor Hochul to join us in protecting consumers.”