The New York State Department of Financial Services published Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2026 State of the State proposals to strengthen consumer and worker protections, including plans to establish a new Office of Digital Innovation, Governance, Integrity and Trust and to advance legislation on data privacy, AI transparency, election-related misinformation, student lending practices and other enforcement initiatives. DIGIT is framed as a central body for digital safety and technological governance, including consistent enforcement. The package also proposes requiring data brokers operating in New York State to register and enabling New Yorkers to submit a single, centralized deletion request for certain categories of personal data held by data brokers. Other measures include requiring labeling of AI-generated content using “provenance data”, banning non-consensual deepfakes in specified periods leading up to elections and banning the sharing of false information about elections, and codifying federal rules requiring advertised discounts in online sales to be “bona fide”. Additional proposals include eliminating state income taxes on up to USD 25,000 of tipped income in tax year 2026, creating a grant program funded via employer assessments to support district attorneys’ workers’ compensation fraud units, funding a Department of Labor-administered grant program to support criminal wage theft investigations in smaller jurisdictions, requiring clearer lender notices on the pros and cons of student loan refinancing, setting standards for private student loan cosigner release and disclosures, and directing the Department of Taxation and Finance to create a vapor products registry with prohibited flavored products treated as contraband.

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