LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

GNYADA has advocated for controlling the problem of auto brokering in New York for years. The Association successfully passed several bills that increase consumer disclosures and registration requirements.

This week, the Association took another step forward in its effort to curtail this industry by forming a special committee with the single task of passing sorely needed broker reform legislation.

No one asks the furniture salesperson about what their markup is, but two State Senators have proposed a bill that will require just that from New York's car dealers. The bill is modeled after the NYC law that was passed a few years back which requires NYC dealers to disclose their markup on customer financing.

Senator Diane Savino (D) has officially picked up the reins of the Broker Bill. On Wednesday, February 3rd, the veteran Staten Island lawmaker introduced GNYADA supported broker regulation legislation (S.4332).

GNYADA’s Legislative Agenda reflects the issues of importance to our membership. A few of our top Legislative Priorities for 2021 are Doc Fee Increase, Halting Direct Sales, and Speeding Up Electric Lien Releases.

On January 26, 2021, GNYADA had a positive discussion with a senior member of the NYS Attorney General’s Office about credit card surcharges. During the meeting, GNYADA requested guidance from the NYS Attorney General on how dealers can recoup the costs associated with credit card transactions.

GNYADA President Mark Schienberg has drafted a joint letter with labor leaders representing GNYADA employees requesting that the Cuomo Administration include frontline dealership workers in the state’s early vaccination program rollout.

This year we all had to learn about rules for quarantine and know what to do when an employee is exposed to COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19. There was financial relief with a whole new set of vocabulary words too. Keeping up with new words and acronyms has been a challenge in 2020. Below, GNYADA has compiled some of the common terms used this year to help you keep up.

Late last night, Congress cleared for President Trump’s expected signature another pandemic relief package totaling $900 billion in response to increasing concerns about the adverse impacts of the resurgence of COVID cases across the country.

Democrats in the New York State Legislature now have the numbers to override gubernatorial veto power on a party-line vote. Two years after the Democrats gained control of the State Senate, the November election results now give them the numbers for a supermajority.

A recent NYS Executive Order that tightened restrictions on businesses in so-called COVID-19 “Red Zones” has been challenged by a NYC dealership in Federal Court in Brooklyn.