Here’s some good government news for a change

NYC eyes a novel way to help with insurance

Soaring food and labor costs are usually blamed for the erosion of food-away-from-home margins, but they’re only part of the pressure. Floods, forest fires, hurricanes and other natural catastrophes have also taken a toll, exponentially driving up insurance costs—or, in many instances, prompting carriers to drop restaurants altogether. Operators often have to settle for costly policies with significant gaps in the coverage.

That’s why New York City restaurants are championing legislation to create a new civic regulatory agency, this one devoted to injecting reason, fairness and transparency into the insurance business. The bill would create an Office of Insurance Accountability, with the aim of providing local businesses and consumers with some leverage against insurers. The agency would study the factors that influence rates with the aim of determining how to keep the cost within reach. It would also blow the whistle on deceptive and unfair practices.

The New York City Hospitality Alliance is wholly supporting the measure, described by Executive Director Andrew Rigie as “a smart, practical step to bring transparency to a complex market and better understand what’s driving these increases.” Association members rank the cost of their liability insurance as a top concern, right behind labor costs.

An aid bill for classic diners

New Jersey is known for giving the world such treasures as Bruce Springsteen, saltwater taffy and Tony Soprano. A coalition of local restaurateurs and politicians are hell-bent on ensuring the state’s classic roadside diners get the same sort of love.

A bill working its way through the Garden State legislature would provide considerable financial and marketing assistance to the familiar three-meal outposts. The aim is to provide the life support needed to keep the griddle sizzling and the coffee flowing. If a tune from native son Frank Sinatra is blaring from the tabletop jukeboxes, so much the better.

The proposed assistance includes a $25,000 income-tax credit for the business and an exemption from the state sales and use taxes for customers who eat their meals onsite.

Qualifying places will be included in a diner directory for consumers who prefer mom-and-pop authenticity over the glitz of newer or chain-affiliated dining establishments.

The benefits would only be available to diners that are at least 25 years old, have always operated at the same location, and are family owned and operated. An establishment also has to meet the federal criteria for being classified as a small business.

The bill is technically named S-2165, but proponents prefer to call it the SODA POP Act, short for Saving Our Diners and Preserving Our Past Act. It has been endorsed by the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association.

Restaurants restock their first aid kits

New York and California are set to become the first states in the nation to require that Narcan or another antidote to opiate overdoses be included in first aid kits accessible to the staff.

The requirement takes effect within the Empire State on June 10. It applies only to establishments required by OSHA regulations to have an aid kit available to employees, an obligation almost as common as Band Aids.

California enacted the mandate in the third quarter of 2024 but has yet to set specific rules governing the availability and use of the antidotes. Those regulations are due to be finalized and in force by Dec. 1, 2028.

Both sets of state regulations shield employees from liability should they administer the antidote.

More than 54,000 Americans died last year from opioid overdoses, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.