Workers’ Rights Wins from 2026 State Legislative Sessions

A number of state legislatures delivered substantial gains for workers in 2026. These developments will deliver better conditions for millions of workers, and they hold heightened significance at the current moment, when federal labor protections and enforcement capacity have sharply contracted. This issue brief by State Futures and the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative contains a compilation of state pro-worker laws enacted this session, along with several notable bills that passed both chambers, await signature, or were vetoed; the round-up also includes a handful of lesser-known bills from prior sessions. The round-up is broad-ranging, but is not and does not intend to be comprehensive or to include all workplace-related bills from all fifty states.

The round-up builds on NYU Wagner Labor Initiative's 2025 State Workers' Rights Roundup, which remains a useful source of policy ideas, and is also a companion to State Futures and NYU Wagner Labor Initiative’s Strengthening Workers' Rights and Labor Protections Through Interstate Cooperation.

We hope this round-up and prior resources generate new ideas and spur advances for 2027 and beyond.

Strengthening Workers’ Rights and Labor Protections through Interstate Cooperation

This Issue Brief by State Futures and the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative lays out a bold, practical roadmap for how states can join forces to protect workers’ rights in the face of federal retreat on workers’ rights. It offers a playbook for how states can coordinate policy, enforcement and visibility - using tools like interstate compacts and tactics like joint enforcement, resource pooling, and coordinating legislation to amplify impact across borders.

The brief shares existing examples of state cooperation and outlines new proposals such as:

• Regional mediation services to replace the dismantled Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS); 

• Shared databases of labor violators to coordinate debarment and enforcement; 

• Augmented joint enforcement against corporations that violate laws in multiple states; 

• Joint “drop dates” for labor legislation across states to build visibility and momentum; and 

• Interstate Compacts to raise labor standards and align procurement