New York, NY – Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday signed Executive Order 11, directing city agencies to inventory and reduce the fees and civil penalties imposed on small businesses, marking a broad effort to cut costs and simplify regulations across city government.
The executive order instructs the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice, Julie Su, and seven city agencies to examine thousands of existing rules and charges that apply to small businesses and identify ways to streamline or eliminate them. City officials said New York businesses face more than 6,000 regulations, which raise operating costs and complicate efforts to open or expand.
Under the order, agencies must compile a comprehensive inventory of fees and penalties within 45 days and determine which can be reduced. Within 90 days, agencies are required to identify fees that can be eliminated through rulemaking, followed by a 180-day review to flag additional fees and penalties that would require legislative action to change.
The order also directs city officials to produce a report within one year examining the feasibility of a fee amnesty and relief program for business owners.
Mayor Mamdani signed the order at a locally owned small business in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, highlighting the administration’s focus on neighborhood businesses. City officials said the initiative is intended to reduce administrative burdens that contribute to higher prices for consumers and financial strain for business owners.
The directive represents one of the administration’s early economic policy actions aimed at easing regulatory costs while maintaining enforcement authority across city agencies.
Mayor Mamdani signed an executive order requiring city agencies to identify and cut fees and fines paid by small businesses as part of a broader regulatory overhaul.
