Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Signs Executive Orders to Crack Down on Junk Fees, Subscription Tricks and Traps and Save New Yorkers Money
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good afternoon everyone. Thank you to Councilmember Won, thank you to Assemblymember Valdez, to Senator Gonzalez, and Borough President Richards for being here today. And thank you to Deyanira Del Rio from the New Economy Project. Thank you also to our incredible Attorney general, Tish James, and our incoming speaker, Councilmember Julie Menin. It is a privilege to be here at Hunter's Point South Park Outdoor Gym, which certainly has to be in any conversation about the most picturesque gyms in New York City. There are many in Long Island City for whom this gym is a refuge, a place where they can come to exercise, to free their minds, to blow off some stress. Because while there may be no weights here, those who exercise here are also free from the weight of junk fees that burden so much of the traditional gym experience. Now some of you may have seen me try to bench press, the key word being try. I have enough humility to know that I am not an expert in gym equipment or push versus pull workouts. But I have heard from enough New Yorkers to know about the miserable experience of them joining a gym only to check their bank account and realize that they have been billed for fees or trapped into a subscription that they never knew they had signed up to pay. The proliferation of junk fees has exploded in recent years, and it is by no means limited solely to the gym industry. We reckon with it when we try to buy concert tickets, when we book a flight, when we settle our credit card bill, or even when we pay rent. A $5 fee here, a $10 fee there, what seems small adds up quickly and the aggregate of all of these fees only buries New Yorkers deeper in a cost of living crisis that defines too many of our daily existences. These fees are not only making it harder for our neighbors to afford life in this city, they are also a sign of disdain and disrespect that corporations and bad landlords hold for working people. When you scrimp and save for a Taylor Swift concert that you have been looking forward to all year, only for a massive corporation to add hundreds of dollars at the final moment, that is disrespect. When your landlord adds fees to your rent payment at the last moment, that is disrespect that leaves you uncomfortable in your own home. These fees are unfair to consumers. They do a disservice to other businesses as well that operate honestly without trying to deceive their customers. But here is the truth, we do not have to accept this broken system as permanent. Under President Biden, the FTC took sweeping action to go after junk fees and they delivered change. Under Chair Leader Khan, they instituted a junk fees rule that they estimated would save Americans 53 million hours a year that they would otherwise spend searching for the true price that they would have to pay, or $11 billion in time savings over a decade. We are going to deliver similar action on behalf of the 8.5 million New Yorkers who call our city home. Today I am proud to stand with so many leaders across our city and our state as we sign an executive order that will target those same junk fees and deceptive practices right here in our city. I am joined by Sam Levine, our commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, who served until last January as the director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protections. Put simply, there are few people in our entire country, if any, who have as much experience leading this work and achieving meaningful results as Sam does. This executive order has three components. First, it will establish a citywide junk fee task force chaired by our deputy mayor for Economic Justice, Julie Su, and DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine to advance this work. Second, it directs Commissioner Levine to wield the power of the DCWP to crack down on hidden junk fees and deceptive business practices. And third, it empowers the DCWP to enforce compliance with city law. When businesses seek to circumvent and violate both existing and new junk fee rules, Sam will have my full backing to pursue enforcement actions. We are also signing a second executive order to crack down on subscription tricks and traps. I am directing DCWP to monitor, investigate, and enforce violations related to these very tricks and traps. We will make recommendations to the City Council so that we can devise legislative solutions to these deceitful practices. And we will coordinate with our partners, including the Law Department and our very own Attorney General Tish James, to ensure coordination across government in this effort. It is hard enough to live in New York City without having to worry all the time about whether you're being ripped off. Our affordability agenda is also about an agenda of dignity, and there are few things more undignified than feeling taken advantage of by someone you are already paying. These are the first steps towards a future where New Yorkers know that they are getting what they're paying for, that companies are not draining their budgets with impunity, and where city government takes meaningful, tangible actions that materially improve the lives of New Yorkers across the city. Thank you very much. And now, our attorney general, Tish James.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source This is– and my commissioner is also here with me, this is a clear directive to DCWP to exhaust all of the existing authority that it has in ensuring full compliance with the law as it is, as well as a robust investigation into the practices that are taking place across the city and potential legislative fixes to those practices. And that's also part of why I'm so appreciative of the partnership in [incoming] Speaker Menin and the fact that her background stems in this very kind of work. Because ensuring, as she said, that this city has the strongest consumer and worker protections in the country is not something that can be done alone. It is something that can be achieved when an administration and a Council are working hand-in-hand, and when we have a commissioner whose knowledge, fluency, and experience on the topic is unparalleled. I don't know, commissioner, if you want to add anything else.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Well, I think first I want to make clear that we are so lucky here in this city to have an attorney general like Tish James who provides us in her work an example of the very kinds of fees that have been charged under the guise of legality when, in fact, they are blatant attempts to rip New Yorkers off. I mean, the attorney general went through fees when it comes to ride-sharing agencies, fees when it comes to car dealerships, fees when it comes to gyms. And this is what we're seeing is throughout New Yorkers' day-to-day lives, they are, like you said, engaging with fees that are often not delineated, and they are being asked to trust that these are, in fact, legal. And so what this will do is illuminate what of these fees are legal and what of them are being grouped together under the guise of those that are actually outside the bounds of the law. Because as you've said, we know that the practice of buying concert tickets, for example, is one that is a fraught experience for many New Yorkers. You time your day around the moment those tickets are released. You wait and wait and wait, hoping to get through to the portal. And then if you are lucky enough to get through that portal with any tickets being left to purchase, you often cannot blink when you see fees being added at the last moment, because you know if you were to, you would lose your place in line. And so that is a company taking advantage of the excitement of New Yorkers to see their favorite artists, to see their favorite teams. And now what we are going to do is make clear both to those New Yorkers that they have protection coming through DCWP, but also to those companies that they need not wait for the subpoena. They need not wait for a piece of mail that informs them. They can just turn on CBS Channel 2 or any of the channels that are here and hear about the fact that this directive is now going to be the law here in New York City.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source You know, I think a lot of this comes down to a sense of impunity, frankly. If you allow companies to violate the law on a regular basis, the lesson that they will learn is that they can continue to do so at an ever-increasing scale. And the importance of taking action today, learning from the example that we've seen at a federal level, at a statewide level, is to finally have New Yorkers be able to trust that they are paying for exactly what it is that they are receiving and that they are not being trapped into fees. I mean, how many New Yorkers find out only when looking at their bank statement that they're still paying for a subscription that they thought they had canceled years ago? And I think, like the speaker said, it's not just about money. It's also about time. You know, when the FTC took this action, one of the ways they measured it is in time being saved. I cannot tell you the time that I have spent trying to figure out what I'm signed up for and how to get out of it. And that is something that New Yorkers just don't have the time for, so they eventually say, “Whatever, I'll pay this $3, I'll pay this $4, I'll pay this $20.” That's not a way that we actually have to live any longer. And I'm so glad to have someone with the national experience here in New York City, in our commissioner, to take this on.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Their point person will continue to be our deputy mayor for Economic Justice, Julie Su. We as an administration are focused on not only generating prosperity and continue to do so here in our city, but also in ensuring that that prosperity reaches the lives of each and every New Yorker who calls this city home. And I am excited by this action, not just for what it does to protect consumers and workers, but also, frankly, businesses that are law-abiding. We see so many businesses who are following the regulations as they are, and then they look at someone across the street who's violating them, and then they ask themselves, what am I doing? Why am I the chump at the end of the day? And what this does is actually show that that is the correct way to approach business in New York City. That is the kind of business that deserves our support. This is the business that has to get into compliance. This is not about punishment. It's about compliance. We want people to follow the law as it is so that New Yorkers can thrive in this city.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source My police commissioner will continue to report directly to me. My police commissioner, just like my school's chancellor, will report directly to me. The executive order is in terms of the question of coordination. This reporting continues to be directly to the mayor.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Exactly. This is about the daily minutia of coordination, not about the question of reporting.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I am thankful that we have an incoming speaker who, as she said, had introduced legislation not even less than a year ago that spoke to dynamic pricing specifically within the question of groceries. And I continue to voice my opposition to the use of dynamic pricing here for the soon-to-come World Cup and the necessity of it being a more affordable experience for all. And I look forward to the conversations, ones that have already begun, both internally and externally, in making that case. Because what we are seeing, you know, I had a New Yorker the other day, come up to me and ask me if there was any way I could help him get World Cup tickets, because he was saying that the cost that he saw for a game was $600. This is increasingly out of reach. We have made what used to be a working-class game into a luxury experience. And there are too many for whom it doesn't matter where the World Cup is being played in the world, they know where they're going to watch it. It's TV. And we want to ensure that there are more experiences available to each and every New Yorker.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source So I continue to stay in constant communication with my police commissioner and the NYPD. And my job as the mayor of New York City is to ensure that any federal action has a limited impact on the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers, and that's what we're going to continue to deliver on.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source Absolutely. Everything is going according to a typical timeline. I'm in the process of applying for that clearance, and I'm also thankful that there are senior members of my team that already have that clearance thanks to past positions that they've held. And so as a result of that, New Yorkers have nothing to fear about my ability to both represent our city and also to deliver for it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source And my chief counsel. [Crosstalk.] We do have another item, which is, as New Yorkers know, junk fees, you don't always know where they are. They surprise you at the last moment. And so I would invite members of the press to look underneath their chairs and to find a very example of a junk fee just like that. [Crosstalk.]
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source I have made clear from the first time that I spoke about this that the priority that I have is the safety and well-being of Venezuelan New Yorkers of whom there are tens of thousands who call our city home, as well as New Yorkers as a whole. And we have in our conversations internally also made it clear that this is a time when many are looking for additional guidance, for additional recommendations, and additional ways to contact city government. And that's going to be a priority for the team that we've already put together and the one that we're putting together now. Thank you, guys. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Signs Executive Orders to Crack Down on Junk Fees, Subscription Tricks and Traps and Save New Yorkers Money.