Legislative Update Winter 2019

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Here’s some info to update you on where our legislative effort stands as of February 2019.

In 2018, we were working with then Assemblymember James Skoufis to put forth a consumer protection bill. After some revisions and then the shuffles that happened with the election in November, our bill has changed.

The New Bill

We are currently looking at more of a consumer bill of rights, with now Senator Skoufis and Assemblymember Sandy Galef co-sponsoring this bill.

We are actually much happier with this new bill as it stands now. Here are some of the highlights (keep in mind it may change as it moves through the process):

  • self-help practitioners must provide their customers with a copy of their “bill of rights”
  • self-help practitioners must clearly outline any potential risks to the emotional or physical well-being of their customers
  • self-help practitioners must outline their risk management plan, including emergency medical assistance
  • self-help practitioners cannot use misleading marketing to promote their services

We believe these steps will go a long way to making self-help events safer for consumers and giving consumers more information about the services in which they are investing their time, money, and energy.

For some background, this is some of the material we’ve shared with legislators to encourage them to take action on this issue.

What’s Next?

The legislative process can be slow! Once the bill is numbered, it will have to move through the committee stages in both houses, and any revisions will have to be incorporated. We will keep you posted on its progress and will certainly be asking for support at the point when the bill is ready to come up for a vote.

At any point in the process, adding your voice does help. If you’d like to encourage your NY State Senator or Assemblymember NOW to find out more about this effort and add their support, you can find them here:

Thank you for your interest in this project! It’s a bit of a slog, but it will be a major victory for SEEK when it we have a Bill of Rights for consumers of self-help in New York state!

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