Zohran Mamdani directs ‘economic justice’ deputy to slash small business fines, with little details revealed

Zohran Mamdani signed a new executive order Wednesday directing his so-called deputy mayor for economic justice to cut fines and red tape for small businesses.

Julie Su — who served as former President Joe Biden’s acting secretary of labor before being tapped by Mamdani for the newly created City Hall post — will lead an initiative to identify onerous fees and regulations at various agencies and submit recommendations on how to tackle the issue within the next year.

“You cannot tell the story of New York without our small businesses. Yet, our city has long made it too hard for these same businesses to open their doors, and to keep them open,” Mamdani said in a statement. 

Seven city agencies will create a full inventory of fees and civil penalties that small businesses face, and determine themselves whether any can be slashed within the next 45 days.

The departments will have 180 days to pinpoint which fines are unnecessary, and whether they can be scrapped in 90 days under city rules or can only be eliminated through legislation.

The agencies — which include the FDNY, Department of Health and the Sanitation Department — will also have to decide whether an “amnesty and relief” program for small business owners is feasible within a year. 

A rep for Mamdani did not clarify what the threshold for qualifying as a small business would be under the program. 

“We want to make it easier — not just to open the doors of a small business but also to keep them open,” Mamdani said at an unrelated event later in Brooklyn.

The deputy mayor for economic justice could also opt to have additional agencies participate under the executive order.