Hochul accused of ‘hit job’ on behalf of teachers’ unions in act of ‘pure censorship’: labor group

Hochul signed a law last week prohibiting people and organizations from using deceptive communications that falsely appear to be authorized by a union or union representative. The law, which took immediate effect, allows Democratic Attorney General Letitia James to investigate and sue to stop alleged violations, including those involving out-of-state groups. Courts can impose fines of up to $1,000 per incident.

In response, the Freedom Foundation, a conservative nonprofit that campaigns against public-sector unions, including teachers’ unions, says

New York

’s new law is a targeted effort to silence its outreach by making its communications vulnerable to government investigations, lawsuits and fines.

CEO Aaron Withe called the law a "hit job." He said the law "isn’t about protecting anyone," adding that it instead "exists because government unions in New York are terrified of an inconvenient fact: when public employees learn they don’t have to pay union dues, a lot of them stop. So instead of making their case to their own members, union bosses ran to their friends in the legislature and got them to write a law that makes speech illegal."