On the ballot in November will be a series of amendments to the NY City Charter (our constitution).
On May 21st, Mayor Adams commissioned a Charter Revision Commission to set the process in motion. In part this is a maneuver by the Mayor to block the City Council’s plan to amend the Charter to require advice and consent before appointment of senior mayoral appointments – since the Mayoral Commission pre-empts the Council proposal. It is also a reaction to the fact that, in recent years, the City Council has had the power to override the Mayor’s vetoes.
Given that the purpose of a Charter Revision Commission’s is to examine the entirety of the Charter with the idea that it might be overhauled on rare occasion, the Mayor’s Commission acted with unusual alacrity. The plan was announced on May 21. It met June 5 to 12. It issued a preliminary report on June 24. It voted on proposals July 25. (By law, the proposals can be amended up until August 5.)
As one would expect, the overall tenor of the proposals is to give the Mayor more power.
- Impede the Council’s ability to pass laws which may (or may not) affect “public safety” by requiring multiple analyses and adding built-in time delays.
- Impede the Council’s ability to pass laws which may (or may not) have a “fiscal impact” by requiring multiple analyses and adding built-in time delays.
- Add a required assessments of current infrastructure status and maintenance needs as a part of plans to spend on capital improvements.
- Give the Mayor more direct control of MWBE and EBE (Emerging business enterprise).
- Give the Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation expanded authority to regulate street pickup/disposal practices.
The proposals are explained in more detail below:
Public Safety
- Provides limitations on when the City Council may pass laws related to the police department, the fire department, or the department of correction.
- Requires advance written notice (45 days) of a public hearing, and the commissioner of each department has an opportunity to testify; and
- The hearing has been held within 90 days of the notice; and
- After the hearing is held, the Council must vote on the law within 50 to 90 days of the notice, or recommence the notice and delay; and
- The Mayor or the affected commissioners may hold their own, separate, hearings; and
- The affected agencies may submit a “public safety impact statement” which must be part of the public legislative record
Fiscal Impact
- City Council Committees must give 8 days advance notice of any hearing on a proposed local law to the Mayor’s budget director
- City Council may not vote on a proposed local law unless it has given 8 days’ notice of an intent to vote to the Mayor’s budget director.
- City Council Committees, and the full Council, may not vote on a proposed local law without a fiscal impact statement prepared by the Council and another prepared by the Mayor’s budget office.
- If The Council or Committee gave the required 8 days’ notice of hearing and intent to vote, but the Mayor’s budget office failed to provide its estimate within 3 days of the vote, the Council or Committee may proceed to vote without it.
- The Mayor is given an additional time to prepare a budget in the year where they have just been elected.
Capital Planning
- Would amend current requirements, whereby the Mayor presents bi-annual assessments of capital needs along with a ten-year capital strategy, to assess maintenance needs of City facilities.
- Aligns the required dates for submission of the ten-year capital strategy with the budget in alternate years.
Sanitation Authority
- Added power to the Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation to regulate “the manner in which garbage….may be set out for collection.” This would include the power to require cans, hours, and placement.
- Added power to the Office of street vendor enforcement to regulate vendors in parks as well as on the street.
MWBE/EBE
- The Mayor may appoint a Chief Business Diversity Officer (CBDO)who reports directly to him. This replaces a director who was an employee reporting to within the MWBE office.
- The CBDO has authority to examine procurement practices and policies of other agencies. This includes any changes in ethnic or gender categories of firms eligible to be certified based on data demonstrating that they have been underutilized in city procurements relative to their availability in the relevant market and the effectiveness of programs addressing disparity in procurement practices.
Film Permits
- Currently film/television permits are issued by the Department of Small Business Services. This would allow the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment to issue permits and would allow the Mayor to designate other City employees to issue permits as well.
UPDATE September, 2024
Mayor Adams Charter Revisions
This November, a series of amendments to the NYC Charter will be on the ballot, initiated by a Charter Revision Commission appointed by Mayor Adams on May 21st. This move appears to be a strategic effort by the Mayor to preempt the City Council's plan to require advice and consent for senior mayoral appointments and to counter the Council's recent ability to override mayoral vetoes. The Commission, which acted with unusual speed, has proposed several amendments aimed at increasing the Mayor's power, including:
- Impeding the Council’s ability to pass laws affecting “public safety” by requiring multiple analyses and adding built-in time delays.
- Impeding the Council’s ability to pass laws with a “fiscal impact” by requiring multiple analyses and adding built-in time delays.
- Adding required assessments of current infrastructure status and maintenance needs as part of capital improvement plans.
- Giving the Mayor more direct control of Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) and Emerging Business Enterprise (EBE) programs.
- Granting the Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation expanded authority to regulate street pickup and disposal practices.
Please see below for more details on the plan. We will also add resources to the VID website.