New York lawmakers passed a state budget bill covering immigration enforcement limits and auto insurance changes before leaving for Memorial Day weekend. The Public Protection and General Government bill passed both the Senate and Assembly after Republican lawmakers questioned its public safety and local control provisions.
The bill bars local law enforcement agencies from signing 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those formal cooperation pacts allow local agencies to work with ICE on immigration enforcement.
Assemblymember Phil Palmesano, R-Corning, criticized the immigration measures. He argued the bill violates home rule and said local communities do not want to become sanctuary counties.
The Trump administration has encouraged police departments and jails to adopt such agreements. In New York, they remain uncommon, with eight counties and three villages participating.
Sheriffs’ groups have defended the agreements as safety measures. They say the pacts allow jails to transfer incarcerated people to federal custody in a controlled setting.
The budget bill also restricts masks worn by law enforcement officers when interacting with the public. Officers cannot wear items used to conceal or obscure facial identity and must visibly display at least one form of identification.
New Yorkers will also be allowed to sue federal officers for constitutional violations retroactive to January 2025. Sensitive locations, including health care facilities and houses of worship, will be allowed to deny immigration enforcement access to areas not open to the public.
The bill also bars state employees from using state resources for immigration enforcement. It restricts certain cooperation with immigration authorities, including sharing personally identifiable information and giving access to non-public areas of state facilities.
State employees also cannot be used as interpreters for immigration-related law enforcement matters. Children cannot be denied free public education because of their own immigration status or that of a parent.
Local governments, law enforcement agencies, correctional facilities, and juvenile detention facilities cannot have financial involvement in privately owned or operated immigration detention facilities. Local governments also face limits on permits and zoning variances for private immigration detention sites unless public notice and comment requirements are met.
The New York Immigration Coalition said the budget deal does not go far enough. The group said it falls short of the New York For All Act, which would have banned informal cooperation between local police, ICE, and Border Patrol.
The coalition said informal cooperation includes contacting Border Patrol during traffic stops or turning someone over to ICE after an arrest. Murad Awawdeh, the coalition’s president and CEO, said the group will continue pushing Albany to pass the full New York For All Act.
The same budget bill also includes auto insurance changes. Insurers will no longer be allowed to increase nonbusiness auto insurance rates without prior approval.
The bill also bars insurers from using employment, education, homeownership, or ZIP code to set auto insurance rates. Supporters say those changes should reduce costs and address rating practices viewed as unfair.
The budget language also addresses staged crashes. New Yorkers who involve another person in staging a crash will be treated as having wrongfully taken, obtained, or withheld the full amount of loss from the victim or victims of the fraudulent insurance act.
Business and consumer groups have said Gov. Kathy Hochul’s auto insurance changes would save New Yorkers billions. Trial lawyers pushed back, arguing some parts of the proposal would shift costs to taxpayers.
Palmesano said he voted against the bill for several reasons. He said lawmakers still lacked a financial plan and should have reviewed it before voting.
He also criticized the absence of HALT reforms, referring to the state’s solitary confinement law. Palmesano said New York correctional facilities face safety and staffing problems and pointed to assaults on correction officers.
In the Senate, Brooklyn Democrat Zellnor Myrie said the state was not blocking federal immigration enforcement. He said the Constitution does not require New York or any other state to help the federal government carry out that work.
