Tech:NYC Policy Briefs

Policy Briefs break down the issues we're working on behalf of our community in New York City, Albany, and Washington, D.C. We'll be continuously adding and updating (follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out when). These briefs support the work we do, like the letter we sent to President Trump, signed by more than 2,000 New Yorkers working in tech, opposing his executive order on immigration.

immigration/travel ban executive order

On March 6th, President Trump signed an executive order replacing the prior order that was essentially invalidated by several federal courts. Given the breadth of prior decisions, it is unclear whether the changes to the Order will be sufficient to withstand such challenges.

 

 
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public safety/privacy act Executive order

The Public Safety Executive Order, signed by President Trump on January 25th signals a shift in the administration’s stance toward the privacy rights of EU citizens and may put the newly minted US-EU Privacy Shield at risk.

 

 

 

Marketplace Provider Tax

New York State Marketplace provider tax

The New York marketplace tax would be a first-in-the-nation tax on internet marketplaces doing $100m+ in sales annually. It would apply to certain transactions only, creating serious operational burdens and sending a message to internet marketplaces, and tech companies more broadly, that they are not welcome here. 

 
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portable benefits

As more and more workers shift from traditional full-time employment to contract or part-time work, we need to find new ways to protect those workers by ensuring that they have access to the kind of benefits that traditionally came from full-time employers, like access to benefits, vacation time, and paid leave.

 

 

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H-1B Immigration visa

                                                              Many tech companies rely on the H-1B visa program to get access to high-skilled talent. This important program - which is far from perfect and could use reform - faces an uncertain future in the current political environment.                                 

 

 
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HomeSharing                        

Currently, New York law prohibits many instances of homesharing, like renting out an apartment in a multiple-unit building for fewer than 30 days. This results in lost opportunity for New Yorkers who want to take advantage of homesharing platforms to rent their homes and lost tax dollars for New York. We support proposals to reasonably allow homesharing across New York.