New commercial financing disclosure laws taking effect in New York on Aug. 1 and their impact on the commercial equipment leasing and finance sector are top priorities of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s State Advocacy team, which is led by Scott Riehl, vice president of state government relations for the ELFA.

“ELFA’s engagement in the legislative process and regulatory rulemaking has resulted in a suite of exemptions being included in New York,” Riehl said. “Our strategy to work to exempt as many industry transactions as we can continues in order to reduce burdensome requirements on equipment finance companies.”

New York is one of six states that have passed commercial financial disclosure laws, out of a total of 15 states that have proposed such legislation. To help educate members about what they need to know about this important topic, the ELFA has compiled several informational resources, including a webinar held on July 12 and led by Riehl and ELFA members Moorari Shah, chair of the ELFA’s state legislative and regulatory subcommittee and a partner at Sheppard Mullin; Robert S. Cohen, a partner at Moritt Hock & Hamroff; and Robert Hornby, a partner at Chiesa, Shahinian & Giantomasi. This was the third in a series of webinars about disclosure laws and was titled: “The NY Disclosure Laws Are Effective on Aug. 1, 2023 – Will You Be Ready? Let Us Help!”

Approximately 500 people registered for the webinar to learn about topics including which organizations must comply, exempt organizations and transaction types, information that must be disclosed with transactions, operational requirements, penalties, record keeping and reporting obligations, disclosure fees and effective dates for upcoming regulations in other states.

The webinar provided an extended opportunity for Q&A with attendees, as well as an invitation to follow up with the expert session presenters directly. The webinar recording, slide deck and video Q&A from the webinar are available here.

“I encourage anyone with questions about disclosure law issues to watch the webinar Q&A and to contact me or any of the panel presenters with their questions,” Riehl said. “ELFA members have the benefit of these resources, as well as the expertise of ELFA’s legislative and regulatory subcommittee of 60 member attorneys who volunteer their time to advocate for and help educate fellow members.”