How can campaigns make new laws simple to understand?
new policy, new opportunity
New York City’s new policy for Paid Sick Leave goes into effect April 1st. The law will provide 500,000 more New Yorkers employed at private businesses with coverage for paid sick leave — including absence from work for themselves or caring for a family member. This will be an expansion from the 1 million New Yorkers originally slated to be covered by the law that passed in June 2013.
Reception to the pending legislation is mixed. Here’s what the press is saying so far:
- New York Times, “New York City Council Swiftly Passes Bill to Extend Paid Sick Days”
- New York Daily, “New York City paid sick leave bill passes despite councilmembers’ reservations”
- Huffingtonpost, “New York City Council Expands Paid Sick Leave Law”
- Wall Street Journal, “New York City Council Expands Paid Sick Leave Council Expands Paid Sick Leave”
- Brooklyn Eagle, “Paid sick leave extended to employees of small businesses in NYC”
- Bloomberg BNA, “Debate Over Mandated Paid Sick Leave Heats Up With State, Local Legislative Action”
How does NYC promote and inform key audiences on such a sensitive (and highly anticipated) policy with a campaign that raises awareness of the new law and drives audiences to learn about its benefits? This presents a new challenge for the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and other agencies the new law affects.
Though similar legislation has been introduced around the country, there are less than ten locations that have successfully passed a law. Here are a few of the locations that have comparable policies in place:
- Seattle, Washington: Paid Sick & Safe Time
- San Francisco, CA: Paid Sick Leave Ordinance
- Jersey City, New Jersey: Earned Sick Time Ordinance
- Connecticut: Paid Sick Leave
Of all the locations, only one (that we can find) used a campaign. Seattle promoted the new policy with a campaign titled “Seattle Works Well.” As the debate heats up, we are eager to see how new cities and states across the nation introduce the new policy to citizens and business owners.
Leaving audiences with a clear understanding of new laws continues to be done in extraordinary ways. We have included a few of our favorite campaigns for new policies below:
- National Campaign — Obama on Between Two Ferns — Affordable Care Act
- California — NOH8 Campaign — Proposition 8
- National Campaign — The Journey — Recycling
If you are interested in learning more about comprehensive existing laws and legislation, feel free to visit this library of campaigns here. You can follow the progress and contribute on Twitter with #paidsickleave.
Photograph: Jeff Salzer
