A 8977: Provides that it shall be unlawful for a bail enforcement agent to use such bail enforcement agent's position to enforce any immigration action.

  
  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.