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New year, new laws: A look at 4 taking effect in New York state on Jan. 1
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Jimmy Vielkind
Published Jan 1, 2026
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Courtesy of the governor's office
By
Jimmy Vielkind
Published Jan 1, 2026
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Single-use Styrofoam coolers will be a thing of the past under a New York state law taking effect with the new year. Another law will cap more health care costs for consumers.
State lawmakers passed more than 850 bills during the 2025 session and some of the fruits of the legislative activity are ripening now. Several of the laws taking effect Thursday are intended to make New York more affordable for residents, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
“New Yorkers shouldn’t have to choose between putting food on the table or being able to afford lifesaving medical devices and procedures,” the Democratic governor said in a statement Wednesday. “With these new laws going into effect, individuals will be able to focus on their health and well-being without having to worry about the financial burdens tied to treatments.”
Here are four of the more than a dozen New York state laws taking effect with the new year:
Cost cap for EpiPens
Health insurance copays on EpiPens, the devices that auto-inject epinephrine for people with severe allergies, will now be capped at $100 per pack. State officials said the measure was important for consumers as the cost of the lifesaving devices rose as high as $600 for a two-pack.
The new cap was enacted in 2024 but takes effect now. However, if someone has a high-deductible insurance plan and hasn’t yet met their deductible, the cap won’t apply, according to a separate law enacted in 2025.
Hochul cheered the cap, along with two other health-related laws taking effect in 2026. One would require health insurance companies to cover breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging. Another would require coverage for “scalp cooling,” a treatment that helps prevent hair loss for chemotherapy patients.
A major health insurer said the laws will increase the overall cost for consumers. Lev Ginsburg, executive director of the New York State Conference of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, said the state now has more than 70 legal mandates on health plans.
“We must be honest about the economics,” Ginsburg said. “Every time the state adds a new mandate, it increases the underlying cost of insurance. … The cumulative effect is a significant and unsustainable increase in premiums for every individual and small business in the state.”
Bye bye, Styrofoam coolers
Another law taking effect will ban the sale, manufacture and distribution of coolers made of polystyrene, an insulating product commonly sold as Styrofoam. The prohibition is part of increasing regulation on polystyrene, which is made in a chemical process and takes hundreds of years to decompose.
Judith Enck, president of advocacy group Beyond Plastics, said polystyrene coolers often break apart and end up in the state’s lakes, rivers and oceans.
“There are direct benefits to New York waterways and some indirect benefits for people who are living near production facilities of polystyrene,” Enck said.
The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, has opposed polystyrene restrictions. The group argues polystyrene is more energy- and water-efficient to produce than alternative materials.
A higher minimum wage
The minimum wage across New York state will rise by 50 cents an hour this year. The hourly rate in New York City, Westchester County and Long Island will rise to $17. That rate will reach $16 in the rest of the state.
The change will affect an estimated 821,000 workers in New York, according to the state Department of Labor. Unions that pushed for the increase said it will provide meaningful help to low-income workers.
New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento said he’s happy that starting in 2027, the minimum wage will increase automatically based on the rate of inflation.
“Indexing wages to inflation and phasing in increases responsibly were critical to ensuring workers and employers had predictable, reliable increases going forward,” he said in a statement. “This hard-won victory is another example of the labor movement fighting to ensure all working people are paid wages they can live on.”
Some groups and officials are calling for further increases. The New York chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business has said additional hikes will force small businesses to raise prices and possibly close.
The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009.
Making organ donation easier
A close friend can now authorize the anatomical gift of a deceased person’s body for organ and tissue donation. New York had been an outlier among states in not including close friends among the people who can authorize the gift. Previously that list included designated health care agents, spouses, adult children and parents of a deceased person.
“This legislation is about ensuring that no opportunity to save a life is lost simply because the person who knew the decedent best wasn’t legally recognized,” said state Assemblymember Amy Paulin, a Democrat from Scarsdale who sponsored the bill. “Close friends often serve as caregivers, decision-makers, and are the people who know an individual’s values more than anyone else. It’s only right that they be trusted with this responsibility when no family member is available.”
A separate law expands the requirement that people be asked if they wish to be added to the organ donation registry when they sign up for an insurance policy.
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Kathy Hochul
Politics
affordability
new york state
Jimmy Vielkind
Jimmy Vielkind covers how state government and politics affect people throughout New York. He has covered Albany since 2008, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Jimmy led a team of reporters that won a New York Press Club award for coverage of Andrew Cuomo’s downfall and was on a team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of Amazon’s HQ2 process. A native of the Capitol Region, Jimmy has two degrees in urban planning. His position is funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Reach Jimmy at [email protected].
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