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Council Member Oswald Feliz opens joint hearing on small business accessibility compliance
0:03:25
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4 min
Council Member Oswald Feliz, chair of the committee on small business, opens a joint hearing with the committee on civil and human rights regarding small businesses' compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and local accessibility laws. He outlines the challenges faced by small businesses in complying with complex accessibility regulations and introduces three bills aimed at supporting small businesses in this area.
- Intro 282: Establishes a fund for loans, grants, and services to make small business storefronts accessible
- Intro 639: Requires SBS to provide training on workplace accessibility for employees with disabilities
- Intro 1260: Expands SBS legal services to include free assistance on accessibility law compliance
Oswald Feliz
0:03:25
Thank you so much, co chair.
0:03:28
Good afternoon, everyone.
0:03:29
I'm council member Oslo Feliz, chair of the committee on small business.
0:03:32
Thank you for joining today's joint hearing with the committee on, small business and the committee on civil civil and human rights, a hearing about supporting New York City's small businesses, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, aka the ADA, as well as local laws promoting accessibility.
0:03:52
I'd like to thank my co chair, council member Nantasha Williams, I'd also like to thank the representatives from the administration, members of the public, and my council colleagues who have joined us here today.
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The small business landscape of New York City is one of a kind.
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It inspires entrepreneurship for so many.
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In fact, according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation, between October 2021 and September 2023, more than 62,000 new small businesses opened in New York City.
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This is roughly 10,000 more businesses than opened in the two years prior to the pandemic.
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The resiliency of small business community should not be understated, and this rapid growth post pandemic proves that.
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But the barriers faced by small businesses to comply with exactly all the applicable laws can be significant, especially when those laws are complicated and complex.
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One legal area that has proved complicated for small businesses is accessibility compliance.
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In New York City, small businesses have to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act as well as a number of local laws facilitating accessibility.
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It is undeniable that these laws, especially the ADA, are groundbreaking groundbreaking for people with disabilities, and these protections should be preserved.
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But for so many small business owners, accessibility laws are unfamiliar, complicated, or costly.
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Supporting small business compliance with these laws is important and requires education, financial support, and access to legal services.
0:05:29
We look forward to hearing from SBS about their work to provide these services to small businesses to ensure that they're making their spaces, their web pages, their workforce accessible for all.
0:05:41
With that goal in mind, the Committee on Small Business will hear three bills today.
0:05:45
The first, introduction two eighty two sponsored by council member Menon who has joined us today, which would require the city of New York to establish a fund providing loans, grants, in kind services, in kind materials, or some combination to make small business storefronts accessible to people with disabilities.
0:06:06
Small businesses of 100 employees or fewer and three locations or fewer would be eligible for the fund.
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The second bill, Introduction six thirty nine, sponsored by Public Advocate Williams, who has also joined us, would require that the Department of Small Business Services provide training and information to small businesses about how to make workplaces more accessible and inclusive for workers with disabilities, and resources that can help small businesses increase accessibility, provide accommodations, and hire workers with disabilities.
0:06:40
The third bill we'll hear is from council member Narcisse, which would require the commissioner of small business services to expand offerings of the department of small business services legal services program to include individualized, free of charge legal assistance through a designated organization for small business tenants on compliance with federal, state, and city laws on making their businesses accessible to people with disabilities.
0:07:05
I'm grateful to council members Manon, NRCs, and public advocate Williams, for introducing these bills to support our small business accessibility, and we look forward to hearing from the administration about these bills.
0:07:18
I would also like to thank Luciano Hamel and Rebecca Barrera from central staff for their work in putting this hearing together as well as my own chief of staff, Esperanza Diaz, my deputy chief of staff, Guillermo Rodriguez, my budget director, Santiago Baena, and everyone for working in the background to make this hearing possible.
0:07:37
Now I'll turn it back to council member Natasha Williams who's co chairing this hearing.