New Yorkers without bank accounts as well as the underbanked will have to wait several more months to get even a cup of coffee and several coffeeshops as the cashless ban has been put on hold.
That after City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) yanked Intro 1281 at the last minute due to legal questions related to interstate commerce law, according to city council sources.
The move surprised many of the bill’s supporters and sponsors as approval was expected at the full Council’s Stated Meeting on July 23, after flying through the Council’s Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business licensing.
The bill “prohibits food and retail establishments from refusing to accept cash from consumers,” and also prohibits businesses from setting higher prices for consumers who use cash. It came in response to a slowly developing niche of businesses, predominantly fast-casual restaurants like Shake Shack and coffee shops, opting to only accept bank-issued cards or electronic payments rather than cash.
While the bill’s prime sponsor Bronx Council Member Ritchie Torres’ office cited “legal issues” for the bill’s delay, the Speaker’s office declined to comment beyond Johnson’s comments at the Pre-Stated Press Conference on July 23.
Torres and his co-sponsor, Council Member Rafael Espinal (D-Bushwick, East New York, Cypress Hills) have expressed a belief that cashless businesses are exclusionary and discriminatory against the poor as well as people of color, who are more likely to not have a bank account or be ‘underbanked,’ which describes consumers who have a bank account but rely more often on cash and other payment forms.
Interestingly, the wording of the bill doesn’t include interstate commerce and simply “prohibits food and retail establishments from refusing to accept cash from consumers. It also prohibits establishments from charging cash-paying consumers a higher price than cash-less consumers.”
Johnson’s office declined to comment on whether some of the city’s larger retail outlets were pushing back against the bill. Among the outlets in the city that don’t take cash is Amazon and Apple stores as well as Shake Shack.
But Johnson reiterated his support for 1281 in his comments following the decision to delay the Council vote and said that while sometimes bills “get kicked a little bit” in the final hours, he expressed confidence the bill would be voted on at the next Stated Meeting in September.
Editor’s Note: An earlier KCP story about this bill erroneously reported it passed the full City Council. KCP regrets the error.
