When 2025 arrives, the New York State Government will put several new laws in place. The twilight of 2024 will bring regulatory changes affecting everything from shampoo bottles to holograms to nipple tattoos. Today we’ll list some of the new developments that will take effect immediately in 2025. Effective January 1, the New York State Constitution includes the Equal Rights Amendment, which expands the list of classes protected from discrimination. There will also be changes to the minimum wage, which increases $0.50 to $16.50 per hour on Long Island, in New York City and Westchester County, and $15.50 in the rest of the state.
Another new law that will be implemented in New York in 2025 is that 20 hours of paid sick leave will now be required specifically for prenatal care, which will be in addition to existing paid sick leave. Because of this, employers cannot request private information as a condition and employees have protection against retaliation for using this tool. Paid family leave benefits are also increased. In addition, eligible workers will receive up to $14,127.84 per year or $1,177.32 per week, which covers 67% of salary.
New laws taking effect in 2025 in New York State
Many of the new laws that will take effect in 2025 in New York have to do with changes to health insurance and coverage for workers. Here are some of the regulatory changes in question:
- S5481A/ A2898A: requires health insurance to cover neuropsychological testing that diagnoses dyslexia.
- S7114A / A6425: requires health insurance plans to cover the cost of at least two epinephrine auto-injectors per year. Limits out-of-pocket spending to $100.
- S6635 / A5745: allows all workers, not just firefighters, police officers and other emergency services, to apply for state PTSD indemnity coverage. This will also include other “mental injuries” incurred while on the job.
- S6674A / A7790A: Requires insurance policies to cover donated pasteurized human milk for at-risk infants with specific medical conditions. This expands eligibility beyond hospital use.
- S1965A / A3865A: requires insurance policies with drug coverage to include prenatal vitamins when prescribed by licensed health care professionals.
- S201 / A2656: requires health insurers to allow pregnant women to enroll, without penalty, during a special enrollment period and thus have coverage from the month of certification of pregnancy.
Other regulations coming into force
There are also other laws coming into effect in New York in 2025 that seek to regulate car rental prices, void contracts and make some changes with respect to services provided. For example:
- Law S543 / A5082: prohibits hotels with fewer than 50 rooms from using small plastic containers for personal hygiene products such as shampoo. Hotels with more than 50 rooms were already subject to this law.
- House Bill 7676B / A8138B: voids rental agreements that include digital replicas, such as a hologram, deepfake, computer-generated image or even an AI representation of someone’s voice or image.
- S4778 / A7167: prevents the abusive collection of administrative, processing or office return fees when a lease expires for a motor vehicle that is undamaged or does not exceed the mileage limit.
- S6164A / A5729A: requires insurance coverage for nipple tattoos performed by licensed medical professionals as part of breast reconstruction surgery.
It should be noted that this is not an exhaustive or detailed list of the new laws that will take effect during 2025 in New York. It is only a summary containing some of the most important regulations that could be of great use to different sectors of society. A more detailed report on these changes will be available soon.
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