New York Senator David Carlucci introduced Senate Bill S7289 that would ban the paying of ransom. 

The bill prohibits municipal corporations or other government entities from paying ransom in the event of a cyber-attack against them. In addition, the bill defines a cyber attack as "a virtual attack against the critical infrastructure, as defined in subdivision five of section eighty-six of the public officers law, of a municipal corporation or other government entity." 

“This legislation will make it clear that those looking to do harm, looking to make money by instituting ran somewhere tax, that they won’t be profitable because it’ll be illegal for municipalities to pay their ransom,” Carlucci said, according to WSYR-TV. 

Recently, the town of Colonie, N.Y.'s computer system was down due to a cyber attack, forcing many departments to run their operations offline. In addition, officials at the Albany (New York) International Airport paid a ransom to cybercriminals after the facility's systems were hit with the Sodiniokibi ransomware strain on Christmas, the Albany Times Union reports.