Mayor Issues Executive Order No. 18 for NYC

Download Executive Order No. 18

OPEN FOR SMALL BUSINESS

WHEREAS, the City is committed to a new era for small businesses, the backbone of New York City's economy and its neighborhoods, and is launching Overhauling Procedures and Expanding Navigation ("OPEN") to continue to make it easier for small businesses to interact with government; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to Executive Order 11 of 2026, the City has identified a set of reforms reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses and established a foundation upon which further reforms can be built; and

WHEREAS, the City's small businesses continue to share the challenges and delays they face in navigating permitting and licensing processes across City agencies and other entities which are required to open a storefront business in particular; and

WHEREAS, the City's small businesses also continue to articulate their desire for a city government that treats them with consistency, respect, and fairness; and

WHEREAS, the City's Business Owner Bill of Rights and Customer Service Survey, established in accordance with section 15 of the Charter, were intended to provide such excellence in customer service, but many business owners are unaware of their rights or available remedies; and

WHEREAS, consistent interagency coordination is needed to drive continuous improvement in how the City interfaces with and regulates small businesses; and

WHEREAS, the affordability crisis affecting small businesses means that they can do everything right in their interactions with City government but still struggle to stay open because of other factors such as rising commercial rent, insurance, utility bills, and abuses of market power by some larger, corporate actors;

NOW, THEREFORE, by the power vested in me as Mayor of the City of New York, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1. Expanding the Mission of the NYC Business Express Service Team. The Department of Small Business Services ("SBS") shall implement an expanded vision for the NYC Business Express Service Team ("NYC BEST") to enhance offerings to business owners, with an emphasis on assisting those seeking to open a storefront business. SBS shall:

1. Assist businesses to open faster by establishing a new concierge service for licensing and permitting. SBS shall assign each NYC BEST client a dedicated project manager to assist the business owner in opening their business, helping the business owner identify required licenses and permits; providing appropriate assistance with applying for such licenses and permits; providing guidance on common pitfalls that can delay application processing; coordinating required pre-opening qualifying inspections on behalf of the business owner with the relevant agencies as appropriate; and providing updates to the business owner regarding the status of their license and/or permit applications.
2. Assist businesses to open faster, stay open, and avoid fines with "just in time" compliance education. SBS shall partner with relevant regulatory agencies as identified by the Commissioner of Small Business Services to offer tailored, timely onsite compliance education to storefront business owners prior to a pre-opening qualifying inspection or a periodic inspection after the business is open. SBS shall deliver such compliance education no more than 60 days, or as soon as practicable, before an upcoming pre-opening qualifying inspection or periodic inspection. Such compliance education shall not be made available to business owners in advance of a follow-up inspection or an inspection conducted in response to a complaint.
3. Assist businesses to resolve summonses through pre-adjudication assistance. SBS shall provide business owners with guidance regarding options available to resolve summonses and violations issued by City agencies. Such guidance shall include, but not be limited to, whether a violation is curable and steps to take to cure such violation, options to settle the summons or otherwise resolve it prior to an administrative hearing and how to engage in such settlement or resolution process, information on actions the business owners can take to come into compliance with City laws and rules, and information on actions the business owner can take to respond to the summons or violation before an administrative tribunal.

§ 2. Business Owner Bill of Rights for a New Era.

1. Beginning September 1, 2026, consistent with section 15(f) of the Charter, SBS shall conduct outreach and education on the Business Owner Bill of Rights, updated as of the date of this Order (the "Updated Business Owner Bill of Rights").
2. Beginning September 1, 2026, SBS shall conduct outreach and education on an updated Customer Service Survey. Prior to such outreach and education, the Mayor's Office of Operations and SBS shall review and recommend any revisions to the Customer Service Survey by no later than August 31, 2026, to make the survey a more effective tool for interagency partners to measure customer service performance.
3. Beginning October 1, 2026, inspectors for the Department of Buildings ("DOB"), the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection ("DCWP"), the Department of Environmental Protection ("DEP"), the Fire Department ("FDNY"), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ("DOHMH"), the Department of Parks and Recreation ("DPR"), the Department of Sanitation ("DSNY"), and the Department of Transportation ("DOT") shall, consistent with section 15(f) of the Charter, distribute a physical copy of the Updated Business Owner Bill of Rights to business owners, managers, or relevant employees at the beginning of every onsite inspection of a storefront business as well as information on how to access (i) the Customer Service Survey electronically and, if physical copies of the Updated Business Owner Bill of Rights are unavailable, in all designated citywide languages, (ii) digital translations of the Updated Business Owner Bill of Rights in all designated citywide languages, consistent with all applicable local laws. Such distribution shall be supplemental to any distribution required by section 15 of the Charter or any other local law that requires distribution of the Business Owner Bill of Rights.
4. Beginning October 1, 2026, Mayoral agencies shall conspicuously post the Updated Business Owner Bill of Rights at every public office, service center, and point of service where business owners may receive, request, or apply for city services, permits, licenses, or approvals.

§3. NYC Small Business Working Group. SBS shall establish a small business working group to facilitate interagency coordination, problem solving, and solutions development to deliver a government that works better for its small businesses.

1. SBS and the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice shall regularly convene representatives from the offices of the Deputy Mayor for Operations, the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning, the Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall, the Mayor's Office of Operations, DOB, DCWP, DEP, FDNY, DOHMH, the Law Department, DPR, DSNY, and DOT to advance improvements to the processes City agencies implement to license and regulate small businesses. The working group shall consult with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings on matters regarding adjudicatory processes and the Office of Management and Budget on budgetary implications of potential solutions or reforms.
2. The working group shall meet at least quarterly to discuss and develop plans to improve government services for small businesses, including, but not limited to, addressing:
   1. Necessary process improvements to eliminate pain points experienced during the licensing or permitting process in an effort to decrease processing times for each license or permit required to open a business;
   2. Quality control and training provided to City staff to eliminate inconsistent enforcement guidance and improve compliance education provided to businesses;
   3. Policy or operational interventions to increase compliance rates for the most frequently issued violations and decrease administrative hearing default rates and summons dismissal rates;
   4. Trends in Customer Service Survey results;
   5. Effectiveness and complementarity of City agency business education and outreach efforts; and
   6. Implementation of capital projects and technological improvements needed to improve service delivery to business owners.
3. The working group shall meet at least annually with the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice to review and present recommendations on proposed regulatory reforms.

§ 4. Embedding a Culture of Continuous Improvement in Customer Service Delivery in the Practices of Regulatory Agencies.

1. DOB, DCWP, DEP, FDNY, DOHMH, DPR, DSNY, and DOT shall:
   1. No later than October 31, 2026, and annually thereafter, submit any planned customer service training courses that will be used in the following calendar year to the Mayor's Office of Operations for review. Such agencies shall ensure that all inspectors complete such training courses by the end of the applicable calendar year. All customer service training courses submitted shall comply with the standardized customer service training curriculum developed by the Mayor's Office of Operations pursuant to section 15 of the Charter.
   2. No later than February 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, submit to the Mayor's Office of Operations the number of inspectors who completed customer service training courses during the previous calendar year and the percentage of the agency's inspectorial workforce that such number represents.
   3. Consistent with the Personnel Rules and Regulations of the City of New York and applicable collective bargaining agreements, consider feedback from the Mayor's Office of Operations' Customer Service Survey for inclusion as a performance standard in such agency's performance evaluation program.
2. No later than December 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, the Mayor's Office of Operations and SBS shall recognize at least one inspector from DOB, DCWP, DEP, FDNY, DOHMH, DPR, DSNY, and DOT for excellence in public service. Nominees shall be drawn from such agencies with consideration of positive feedback in the Customer Service Survey, relevant feedback collected through NYC BEST, and input from each respective agency's leadership.

§ 5. Identifying Additional City Interventions to Tackle the Small Business Affordability Crisis.

1. By October 31, 2026, SBS shall present recommendations to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice regarding initiatives or policies to address other costs that small businesses face outside of those that are a function of their regulatory experience with government, including but not limited to liability insurance, commercial rents, and utilities.
2. By October 31, 2026, SBS shall provide recommendations to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice regarding initiatives or policies to drive down storefront vacancy rates in commercial corridors with high vacancy rates, or chronic storefront vacancy in certain areas.

§6. Effective Date. This Order shall take effect immediately.