Council-initiated Commission, comprised of members appointed by every City elected official, to improve city government advances
The New York City Council’s legislation (Introduction 1088-A) to establish a Charter Revision Commission with representation from every city elected official to improve city government became law. The law’s enactment authorizes the commission, which will focus on improving city government and transparency, restoring public confidence in city government, and strengthening local democracy through a comprehensive review of the entire City Charter. The law includes safeguards for the commission to help re-establish good government as the model for charter revision efforts after a rushed, politicized process by the mayor resulted in poorly constructed ballot proposals this past November.
The Commission will be composed of 17 members, with nine members appointed by the Speaker and the remaining members each appointed by the Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, and five Borough Presidents. Unlike Mayor Adams’ Charter Revision Commissions, registered lobbyists cannot serve as commissioners. The Council-initiated commission will conduct an extensive outreach campaign that solicits ideas and recommendations from a wide variety of civic and community leaders, while also prioritizing public participation. The commission will work to develop proposals that can be submitted for placement on the ballot in the 2025 or 2026 General Elections and will not consider proposals that weaken New Yorkers’ rights or local democracy.
The Council-initiated Charter Revision Commission will move forward despite the recent announcement by Mayor Adams to empanel a second Charter Revision Commission that attempts to obstruct proposals developed by this more broadly representative effort inclusive of all the City’s elected officials.
“My bill to establish a new Charter Revision Commission that includes representation from all the City’s elected officials and prioritizes improving city government, transparency, and accountability is now law, and our collective efforts to restore public confidence and strength in our local democracy will continue,” said Speaker Adrienne Adams. “Repeated attempts to politically weaponize mayoral charter commissions as vehicles to undermine New Yorkers’ democratic rights and representation are why this Commission is needed to restore model standards of their good government purpose. I look forward to the broad collaboration of elected officials’ representatives on this Commission that prioritizes strong public engagement to demonstrate how to inclusively and transparently revise the City Charter for improved governance that better serves New Yorkers.”
Introduction 1088-A was passed by the Council on November 13, 2024, and became law as a result of the Mayor taking no action within 30 days. Its passage followed a General Election that included several proposals developed by a rushed Charter Revision Commission created by Mayor Adams. One of the proposals was rejected by voters, and the remaining ones were approved with the narrowest margins of any city ballot proposals in the last 15 years. Rather than conducting a full, thoughtful review of the City Charter, that previous Charter Revision Commission was focused on blocking the City Council’s legislative charter revision proposal and undermining checks-and-balances to hold mayoral administration’s accountable to the public. Mayor Adams is once again using the creation of a new commission to try blocking expected charter revision proposals from others authorized by law to advance them. This second attempt by Mayor Adams to politicize the process demonstrates the importance of pending state legislation, S.9935/A.5661, that would eliminate the ability of mayors to block charter revision proposals from local legislatures and individual voters by simply establishing a Charter Revision Commission to develop a superseding proposal.
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