Gov. Kathy Hochul signed roughly 900 bills in 2023. Those laws — many of which are scheduled to take effect in the new year — touch nearly every aspect of New Yorkers’ lives.
There are measures recognizing additional school holidays (the Lunar New Year and Diwali), and others that establish broader protections for freelance workers and create new requirements for licensed cosmetologists.
What else will change in 2024? Here’s a look at some of the most consequential laws taking effect this year. The minimum wage will increase New York’s minimum wage will rise to $16 per hour in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County and to $15 an hour everywhere else in the state.
Both rates will increase by an additional 50 cents in 2025 and 2026, with future increases statewide pegged to inflation. The decision to add $2 to the city’s $15 minimum wage by 2026 — a plan included in last year’s state budget agreement — was not universally supported.