Amid a profession that is always changing, it’s important for legal teams to keep an eye out for new ways they can reach and serve clients. The concept of law new is a broad one, though it can be difficult to define: It can mean offering services to clients in entirely new ways, embracing technology or operating outside of the traditional model of a law firm. It also can mean providing different types of legal services to underserved communities or creating strategies that haven’t been a part of standard practice in the past.
New Law and DCWP
A bill that would require City agencies to prepare a notice for employees and job applicants regarding the availability of federal student loan forgiveness programs. DCWP would then make the notice available to all City employers to distribute to their employees.
This bill would expand the City’s laws to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products and other vaporized nicotine products by increasing the amount of time that a retailer must display a prominent warning label and restricting the number of tobacco retail dealer licenses that may be issued in each community district, while maintaining current restrictions on the use of tobacco-related outdoor advertising and signage.
The City’s laws relating to the protection of children from child abuse and neglect will be amended to require that all private schools, day care centers, child care facilities and family homes licensed by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene provide proof of insurance coverage for the benefit of any child who is injured or dies while in their care. Read Local Law 196 of 2021.
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, this bill will expand the requirement for food vendors to have a permit to sell on street sidewalks in the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge. It will also require that all pushcarts in those neighborhoods have a supervisory licensed food vendor present at the cart at all times and establish a dedicated vending enforcement unit.
The City’s data breach notification laws will be amended to align them with the requirements of New York State’s SHIELD Act. In addition, the bill will expand the circumstances in which a City agency must disclose unauthorized disclosures of personal identifying information and clarify other aspects of the law.