New laws go into effect in the New Year. From protecting tenants to boosting the minimum wage and combating hate crimes, there are several new laws that take effect as we start 2024.
A law is a written rule that regulates behavior within a society or country. It’s created by a legislative body, like Congress, and becomes an official law when it’s passed by the Senate or House of Representatives.
Throughout the year, lawmakers will propose ideas for how to improve or change existing laws. Once approved, these proposals become bills that are introduced to Congress or another legislative body. Once a bill is proposed, it will go through a process of research, discussion, changes and voting to become an official law, also known as a statute or act.
The people have the right to know the process of government decision-making and review the documents and statistics leading to those decisions. That knowledge is necessary to a well-functioning democracy and should not be hindered by shrouding it in secrecy or confidentiality. This Article declares that access to information about government is a fundamental constitutional right and that no person shall be denied such access for any reason, including but not limited to cost, disproportionate burden or potential embarrassment.
This article establishes procedures and standards for obtaining access to records of public agencies. The legislature declares that the purposes of this article are to ensure that the public has ready access to information about their government and the processes by which it operates. It establishes that the public has a general right to inspect and copy all records of the executive branch and certain other agencies, except those expressly exempt from disclosure by federal or state law. It provides that the executive branch and other agencies may provide copies of records, subject to fees for reproduction and other reasonable costs incurred in making the copies available to the public.
The legislature further states that it recognizes that privacy interests exist in the handling of some information, and that certain sensitive records require additional protections. The legislature further declares that it is in the public interest to require agencies to use their best efforts, consistent with privacy interests, to limit the extent to which personally identifying information about individuals is made available for inspection and copying.
Lastly, the legislation requires City agencies that suffer data breaches involving private identifying information to disclose such information to affected individuals and to the Chief Privacy Officer. The legislation also aligns City data breach notification laws with requirements under New York’s SHIELD Act.