June 8, 2026

NYNPA’s Legislative Session Wrap-up
By Diane Kennedy, President

The state Legislature adjourned just before sunset on Friday, June 5. They passed two nation-leading bills, one disturbingly unconstitutional bill on AI use, and one bill that will negatively impact tailored subscription pricing. We were able to block bills that would harm newspaper public notice and scale back public access to police disciplinary records

The nation-leading bills we got passed:

• Our bill (A.11292-A and S.9934) prohibiting the deployment of anonymous bots was the very last bill to reach the Assembly floor Friday night. It was drafted by the News Media Alliance in collaboration with legal experts at many of our member companies and is designed to deter stealth crawlers that burden the operation of websites and scrape content without payment or permission. The bill passed the Senate on June 2. It must be sent to the Governor for her consideration sometime before the end of the year. It is the first of its kind in the nation, and is being watched by news organizations in Europe as a possible model bill as well. Our lobbyist, Frank Nemeth, deserves much of the credit for getting it to the Assembly floor after the tech companies made an 11^th hour push to kill it in the Assembly. Our bill sponsors, Assm. Steve Otis and Sen. Mike Gianaris, never wavered in their support, and they deserve our gratitude. Sen. Gianaris is leaving his post at the end of the year, and we will miss him. He has been a supporter of newspapers and a fearless and dedicated sponsor of our bills. Click here to read and download our official press release on this first-in-the-nation legislation prohibiting deceptive bots from accessing New York news sites.

• Sen. Gianaris also sponsored our legislation (S.10079/A.11199-A) to preserve press access to encrypted radio communications, which are becoming widespread. It was sponsored in the Assembly by Assm. Karines Reyes, who overcame fierce and vocal opposition on the Assembly floor by members of the Republican minority. The bill was amended this year to address concerns Gov. Hochul expressed in vetoing the bill last year. New York City passed its own law requiring NYPD to provide the press with the ability to monitor police radio communications, and we are working with an array of press groups to ensure that NYPD complies with the law.

The disturbingly unconstitutional bill:

• The FAIR News Act (A.8962/S8451), sponsored by Assm. Nily Rozic of Queens and Sen. Pat Fahy of Albany easily passed both houses over the strenuous objections of NYNPA, the NYS Broadcasters Association, book publishers and an array of technology and civil society groups. We distributed memos detailing the various ways in which the legislation clearly violates the First Amendment and conflicts with numerous United States Supreme Court decisions striking down government regulation of news. The bill requires news organizations to clearly and conspicuously label any news content that was “substantially” produced using AI, unless the item of content itself is copyright eligible. The bill authorizes the state Attorney General to investigate and refer violations to a court for fines of $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 per subsequent violation, as well as the issue an injunction to prevent future non-compliant publication. During floor debate, Sen. Fahy noted that more than half of the news content published in the United States is false or misleading, and this bill will deter publication of such content. She also noted she believes the bill will prevent plagiarism. Under highly critical questioning by Sen. George Borrello, she said the bill’s provisions granting state government the authority to mandate labeling of news content is not a violation of the First Amendment prohibition of “compelled speech,”, as other consumer products that may be harmful are also labeled. The bill was supported by news industry labor unions, and Attorney General Tish James advocated for its passage. Needless to say, we will urge Governor Hochul to veto this bill when it gets to her desk.

The bad bills we blocked:

• The bill to enable counties to take public notices out of newspapers (S.7053/A.8262) passed the Senate under the sponsorship of Sen. Lia Webb, but was set aside by the Assembly bill sponsor Assm. Anna Kelles, who would like to meet with me this summer to discuss the matter further. I have also agreed to continue discussions with Assm. Mary Jane Shimsky about her bill (A.10387/S.9558) to enable local governments to move notices to municipal websites. We be working with the New York Press Association to develop a public notice advertising modernization bill.

• Legislation mandating deletion of subscriber data upon cancellation (S.4413-A/A.10770) passed the Senate, but the Assembly did not move the bill forward after we objected.

• A bill that would seal records of police misconduct that have not resulted in disciplinary action (A.2074/S.4117) suddenly began to move in the Assembly in late May, and nearly made it to the Assembly floor before stopping, largely thanks to quick editorial coverage by USA Today (thank you, Mike Kilian!) and opposition by an array of good government groups. A legislator who chairs a committee with control over the bill has asked to meet with me this summer to talk about compromise language.

The bad bills that passed over our objection: 

• Attorney General Letitia James’ legislation to ban surveillance pricing (A.9349/S8623), which would have a negative effect on subscription sales flexibility, passed both houses late at night on June 4 over the strenuous opposition of the newspaper industry and the business community. We proposed amendments to the Attorney General’s staff and the Legislature, without success. Legislative staff told us and told other business representatives that they were aware the bill is flawed (for instance, it applies to any company headquartered in New York and to any of its properties in other states, which makes it a nationwide bill). We will request that the Governor either veto the bill, or sign it on condition that the legislature amend it next year before allowing it to take effect.

• Legislation to shield the health data of New Yorkers (S.9269/A10357), which was vetoed by the Governor last year, also passed both houses easily. It poses risks to news organizations which tailor content to the interests of readers if that content involves health or wellness topics. Last year, we suggested changes to the bill in hopes of enlisting cooperation of the bill sponsors. That did not materialize, so we will join the wide array of organizations urging a veto this time.

One still unfinished: 

• We were unable to secure a budget line to fund not-for-profit news organizations, or to achieve passage of standalone legislation to do so. We supported legislation (A.10330/S.9285) by Assm. Jeff Dinowitz and Sen. Jamaal Bailey to create a funding program for not-for-profit news administered by Empire State Development. We will continue to advocate for our not-for-profit newspapers.

One we got done and will continue to facilitate:

We continue to work with Empire State Development to facilitate distribution of the Newspaper and Broadcast Media Jobs Tax Credit. ESD was exceptionally helpful to our member newspapers as the application process rolled out. ESD staff invested a great deal of time and effort in understanding our industry and tailoring the program to provide access by the greatest possible number of eligible newspapers. We are told the funds have been entirely allocated.

I would like to express NYNPA’s gratitude to the staff of the News Media Alliance – Danielle, Neil, Emily (especially Neil and Emily!), Regan and Holly, who devoted time and expertise to helping us advocate for newspapers. So many of our member company staff also devoted energy, expertise and time (often at night and on weekends) to our legislative work – especially Peter Lerner and Brad Silver of Advance, Al-Amyn Sumar, Tanya Forsheit and Simone Procas of The New York Times, Todd Thorpe, Eriade Williams, Michael Adelson, Teena Lee and Alex Gibson of News Corp (and their very able lobbyist, Bob Harding), Dina Sforza and Gea Somma of Newsday, Andrea Butler, Christine Gartland and Monika Jedrzejoska of Hearst.

And, of course, thank you to the members of our Board of Directors, who came to Albany in March to meet with the Governor and legislative leaders, reminding them of the importance of newspapers and emphasizing that newspapers can be large or small, shareholder-owned or privately owned, not-for-profit or for-profit, digital or print. We reminded our elected leaders that New York’s newspapers serve readers across the globe and in rural, urban and suburban communities throughout New York State. NYNPA supports and advocates for all newspapers. Unity is our strength.

Thank you to our members for your continued support. Please reach out to us at any time for any reason.