On December 19, 2025, New York Governor Hochul signed the Fostering Affordability and Integrity Through Reasonable (“FAIR”) Business Practices Act. The FAIR Business Practices Act adds prohibitions against “unfair” and “abusive” acts or practices to the state attorney general’s arsenal, which otherwise expressly addressed only such acts or practices that are “deceptive.”
The state Attorney General Letitia James’ office advanced the legislation last summer, proclaiming that it is necessary to protect consumers from a wide array of harms, including deed theft, junk fees, hard-to-cancel subscriptions, data breaches, and other unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices (“UDAAPs”). Attorney General James described the legislation as a direct response to the federal government’s “retreat” from protecting consumers. The legislation’s statement of purpose provides that prohibiting only deceptive business acts and practices has proven insufficient to protect the state’s residents and economy. It also refers to court-imposed limits on the attorney general’s enforcement authority based on a strict reading of the current law.
The New York FAIR Business Practices Act broadly provides that unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, trade or commerce or in the furnishing of any service in the state are unlawful. The Act adopts standards that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) previously established for what constitutes unfairness and abusiveness. Then the Act clarifies that the attorney general may bring an action or proceeding to enjoin any UDAAPs committed by any individual, firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association, or agent or employee of such a person, that is conducting any business in the state. The Act emphasizes that a UDAAP is actionable regardless of whether it is “consumer-oriented,” reportedly to ensure the protections extend to businesses and nonprofit organizations as well as individuals. The Act even strikes the word “consumer” from the heading of the statutory article. The Act becomes effective on February 17, 2026.
Conventional wisdom holds that as the federal CFPB under the Trump administration sets narrower enforcement priorities, state regulators will fill that gap. Pennsylvania and California, among others, have prioritized consumer financial protection in 2025. We have definitely seen New York State continue certain enforcement efforts that the CFPB has dropped. The New York FAIR Business Practices Act indicates that the state is prepared to fill any perceived consumer protection vacuum.