New York Senate Bill S02469

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/21/25
• Refer: 1/21/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Establishes the office of ethnic and community media; provides duties of the executive director; requires each state agency to seek to direct at least fifty percent of its total spending on advertising to ethnic and community media outlets.

Summary

S02469 would create a new Office of Ethnic and Community Media within the executive branch, headed by a governor-appointed executive director. The office would be responsible for coordinating how state government communicates with the public through ethnic and community media outlets, maintaining a list of qualifying outlets, issuing waiver forms, training agency staff, and reporting annually on state advertising spending directed to these outlets. The bill also sets a policy goal that each state agency seek to direct at least 50 percent of its total advertising spending to ethnic and community media outlets. Agencies could request an annual waiver by showing a particularized public-purpose justification, and any waiver granted would have to be posted publicly. The bill excludes legally required notices from the advertising-spending calculation so that mandated publication costs do not count toward the 50 percent target.

Impact

The bill would amend the New York Executive Law by adding a new section establishing a centralized office and new reporting and oversight requirements for state agency advertising. It would affect state agencies that purchase advertising, requiring them to track spending, participate in annual training, provide data for reports, and consider ethnic and community media outlets in their media-buying decisions. It would also create a public record of waiver decisions and annual spending totals, increasing transparency around state advertising allocations.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of support or opposition from legislative debate. Based on the bill text, the measure appears designed to expand access to government information in multilingual and community-specific media markets, suggesting a pro-access and pro-inclusion policy rationale. The overall tone of the proposal is administrative and affirmative rather than punitive or controversial on its face.

Contention

The main point of potential contention is the 50 percent advertising-spending target, which could be viewed by some as a strong directive that may limit agency discretion in choosing media outlets. Another possible issue is how the office would define and maintain the list of qualifying ethnic and community media outlets, since the definition is broad and partly left to the executive director’s determination. Agencies may also object to the added reporting, training, and waiver procedures, while supporters are likely to emphasize equitable access to public information for immigrant, language-specific, and neighborhood-based communities.