Julie Menin

This bill would allow any person to submit a complaint to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) alleging that a person or entity has violated certain provisions of law related to artificial intelligence. DCWP would be required to investigate complaints submitted, unless a complaint is frivolous, falsified, or duplicative, and share all complaints received with the Law Department. If DCWP issues a notice of violation or the Law Department commences a civil action based on the facts alleged in a complaint, the person who submitted the complaint would be entitled to 25 percent of any proceeds recovered as a result. If DCWP or the Law Department designate the person who submitted the complaint to serve a notice of violation or commence a civil action based on the facts alleged in the complaint, that person would be entitled to 50 percent of any proceeds recovered as a result.

This bill would prohibit food establishments from using a dynamic pricing model that increases the price of any menu item based on real-time demand, which includes the number of individuals present in the food establishment. Any food establishment that violates this section would be liable for a civil penalty, for each day that a dynamic pricing model is used, of $500.

This bill would increase the minimum and maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for a violation of the anti-idling provisions of the New York City Air Pollution Control Code. Penalties would also increase for vehicle owners who commit a second, third, or subsequent violation within a 3-year period. Additionally, the bill would align the definitions of “bus” and “truck” used in the Air Pollution Control Code with those used in the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law.

This bill would require the New York City Department of Education (“DOE”) to produce an annual report and to submit that report to the mayor, and the speaker of the council. The reporting mandate would be for DOE to report on all outreach by participating city schools to parents and guardians of eligible students about the New York City Scholarship program (“program”). Such report would be mandated to include the following information: (1) identify and list each participating city school for the year in question; (2) disaggregated by participating city school, identify, list and describe: the steps taken by each school to notify parents and guardians of eligible students about the program; the resources, tools, or other engagement methods, disaggregated by program benefit, used by the school to inform parents or guardians how to obtain each type of program benefit; (3) an assessment on outreach DOE considered most effective at improving parent and guardian engagement with the program for that year; (4) a description of the steps DOE will take in the next year to improve parent and guardian engagement and use of the program. As this local law would contain reporting requirements with a sunset clause, it is deemed repealed after such reporting requirements are completed and therefore an unconsolidated local law.

This bill would require the Director of the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability to study and report on the feasibility and impact of locating data centers in New York City. The Director would be required to identify potential sites in the city where data centers could operate and consider the impact that data centers would have on the electric grid, water supply, utility rates, long-term sustainability and energy plans, economy, and nearby residents’ quality of life. The Director would also be required to recommend changes to local law or the zoning resolution to facilitate the building of data centers, and propose solutions to minimize any negative effects of data centers on the city or its residents. Within 1 year of the law’s effective date, the Director would be required to submit a report containing the findings and recommendations of the study to the Mayor and the Speaker of the Council and post a copy of the report on the City’s website.

This bill would require disclosure to the Campaign Finance Board when candidates for local elected office or entities making local-election-related independent expenditures create political materials or advertisements when those materials use synthetically generated (i.e. created or modified using AI) content. The person or entity making these political materials must not remove provenance data, a kind of metadata describing the type of generative tool used to create the materials and when such materials were made, from those materials. Once those materials are made, that provenance data or a description of the origins of the materials must be disclosed to the Campaign Finance Board, which must publish that information online. A person failing to disclose this information may be subjected to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation.

This bill would make it unlawful to market, offer for sale, sell, or deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) model in New York City that has not received third-party validation or does not have a technical capability to be shut down by a human operator. Validation would be based on topics such as task performance, disparate impact, data privacy, and safety, including the functionality of a shut-down capability. A validator would also have to certify and disclose to the AI model developer and to Cyber Command whether the AI model is validated, or ready for deployment, and any interest the validator has in the AI model. Cyber Command would have to promulgate rules regarding bill implementation and validator qualifications. Civil penalties could range up to $25,000, with a $25,000 fixed civil penalty, per instance, for an AI model being marketed, offered for sale, sold, or deployed without validation or a shut-down capability and for a validator’s falsification of a validation.

This bill would prohibit any person that sells, leases, or rents goods or services, whether online or offline, from engaging in surveillance pricing.