NYC Advocates Rally for Bill Letting Small Firms Sue Lenders

Advocates, tenants, workers, shoppers and small-business owners gathered outside New York City Hall on Oct. 8 to back a bill widening the city's defenses against unfair business practices, The Chief-Leader reported.

The bill is called the POWER Act. Mayor Zohran Mamdani supports it. Council Member Harvey Epstein, who chairs the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, is its sponsor. Mamdani said it would allow tenant unions to take landlords to court over deceptive practices, taxi drivers to contest unfair financing terms, and consumers hurt by predatory pricing to seek relief. Nonprofits could also file claims.

It would reach deed theft, junk fees, worker misclassification and predatory small-business financing, among other practices. Lorelei Salas, a former head of the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, compared merchant cash advances to payday loans for businesses. She said such borrowers count as commercial entities rather than consumers and so have fewer ways to fight abusive terms. The bill would let them bring claims themselves.

Lindsey Vigoda, who directs Small Business Majority's New York office, said a $10,000 advance can lead to payments of hundreds of dollars a day.

Lawmakers are also pursuing the Truth in Pricing Act, which would simplify rules on how businesses show prices, and an amendment that would drop a long rulemaking requirement so the department can act faster.

This story was first reported by The Chief-Leader.