A 7770: Requires the commissioner of labor to prepare an annual report on the cost of living, poverty rates and adequacy of the current minimum wage in the state.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7770 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY April 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. TORRES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring the commissioner of labor to prepare an annual report on the cost of living, poverty rates and adequacy of the current minimum wage in the state The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 21 of the labor law is amended by adding a new 2 subdivision 17 to read as follows: 3 17. Shall prepare and submit to the governor, the temporary president 4 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly and the chairs of the senate 5 and assembly committees on labor on or before the thirtieth day of 6 September an annual report on the state's cost of living, poverty rates, 7 and the adequacy of the current minimum wage. The report shall analyze 8 the change in living costs using the available and widely consulted cost 9 of living measures, including, but not limited to the true cost of 10 economic security (TCES) measure, the MIT living wage calculator, the 11 economic policy institute (EPI) family budget calculator, and the 12 University of Washington self-sufficiency standard. The report shall 13 also analyze changes in poverty and child poverty for households that 14 include one or more workers, using American Community Survey data for 15 the latest available year. Such analysis shall examine changes in the 16 specified measures for each year since December thirty-first, two thou- 17 sand eighteen, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability 18 status, household size, profession and education level for each of the 19 four regions of the state, which shall be defined as: the city of New 20 York; the suburban counties of Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau; the 21 Hudson Valley counties of Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Ulster, Greene, 22 Dutchess, Columbia, Albany, and Rensselaer; and the counties of the 23 remainder of the state. The report shall also compare the current and 24 projected future value of the state's upstate minimum wage with the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08402-04-5 
 A. 7770 2 1 minimum wages in other high-cost states, including but not limited to 2 Washington, California and Hawaii, and compare the current and projected 3 future value of the state's minimum wage in the city of New York, and 4 the counties of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk with the minimum wages 5 in other high-cost cities, including but not limited to Seattle, San 6 Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Denver. The commissioner 7 may include in the report such other analysis as they find useful in 8 assessing the adequacy of the state's minimum wage. In preparing the 9 report and determining its methodology, the commissioner shall consult 10 with a three-person advisory committee, the members of which shall 11 consist of one appointee each by the governor, the temporary president 12 of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly. 13 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.