Bill > A00675

This bill, known as the Empire State Licensing Act, aims to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to professional, occupational, commercial, or business licenses, permits, certificates, or related registrations regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. It achieves this by amending various laws, including the Civil Rights Law, Public Officers Law, Tax Law, and Education Law, to prohibit discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status in the licensing process. The bill defines "license" broadly to encompass any state or local government-issued permission to operate, and "issuing entity" as any public body that grants such permissions. It explicitly states that no issuing entity shall inquire into, request, or require proof of an applicant's citizenship, lawful immigration status, country of birth, or national origin, and that existing requirements based on U.S. citizenship or permanent residency for licenses are nullified. Furthermore, the act mandates that issuing entities develop policies to evaluate experience obtained abroad for substantial equivalency to existing requirements and make application processes accessible in an applicant's primary language if English proficiency is not necessary for the license. The bill also includes provisions for the confidentiality of applicant information, preventing the retention or disclosure of documents that prove an applicant's place of birth, except under specific legal circumstances like a court order. It also removes citizenship or permanent residency requirements from various professional licensing statutes, such as those for physicians, veterinarians, and attorneys, and modifies tax and general obligation laws to allow for the use of individual taxpayer identification numbers in place of social security numbers for licensing purposes.