They crammed earlier than the Mam.
Metropolis Council members handed a whopping 51 payments throughout a marathon end-of yr assembly earlier than Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes workplace.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who was in Mexico because the flurry of law-making unfolded Thursday night time, stated he “might be reviewing our subsequent steps concerning the payments handed right this moment,” in an announcement from his spokesman Fabien Levy.
A number of controversial measures had been handed, particularly on housing, that would draw a last-gasp veto from Adams — and arrange Metropolis Council legislative battles extending into Mamdani’s time period.
Listed here are the notable last-minute payments handed because the Metropolis Council rode off into 2025’s sundown.
Public security
A hotly contested invoice giving the Civilian Grievance Overview Board direct entry to NYPD cops’ body-camera footage was authorised over the strenuous objections of a robust police union.
However council members handed the invoice 34-9, with 5 abstentions — leaving it simply shy of a veto-proof majority.
Adams, a former police captain, is “nonetheless reviewing particulars of the laws” earlier than he decides whether or not to signal, a Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated.
Hizzoner has till Dec. 31 to veto any payments — a transfer that would arrange an override battle with the subsequent council.
Outgoing Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is not any relation to the mayor, considered the body-camera invoice as a part of her “legacy,” insiders have stated.
She argued earlier than the vote that it was vital to finish the civilian police watchdog’s reliance on the NYPD to get footage throughout misconduct probes into cops.
“Offering the CCRB with direct entry to body-worn digital camera footage will enhance its potential to find out the benefit of misconduct allegations,” she stated.
Lawmakers did overwhelmingly cross a invoice requiring the NYPD to unencrypt their police radios by a veto-proof 41-7 margin.
Housing
A socialist-friendly invoice giving nonprofits first crack at shopping for reasonably priced housing handed by a 30-10 margin — not sufficient to forestall a possible veto.
The “Group Alternative for Buy Act,” or COPA, drew hearth from actual property teams, property homeowners and Republicans as an assault on non-public possession.
“This government-engineered, socialist scheme sanctions politically-connected, nonprofit housing slumlords and predatory builders to grab non-public property at depressed values from hard-working small homeowners, lots of them immigrant multigenerational households, which have invested their blood, sweat, and life-savings of their buildings,” raged Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property House owners of New York.
Julie Menin — the Metropolis Council’s presumptive subsequent speaker — would finally determine whether or not to deliver payments up for an override vote subsequent yr, ought to Adams veto any.
The Manhattan councilwoman was amongst eight lawmakers who abstained on the COPA vote.
The council additionally handed a set of payments that reserve 4% of newly constructed items for dwelling possession and mandate the proportion of two- and three-bedroom items in newly constructed backed rental housing. One other invoice required 80% of recent items to be reasonably priced for low-income households.
Metropolis Corridor officers railed towards the payments, noting Mamdani’s staff lobbied towards a number of of them. The payments would “worsen the affordability disaster” and “sandbag” Mamdani and Menin on reasonably priced housing, stated Levy, Adam’s deputy mayor for communications.
“Irresponsible actions like these exhibit the significance of Mayor Adams’ efforts to modernize the housing approval course of by the poll measures that handed this November,” Levy stated.
Employee safety
Council members additionally bucked Uber and Lyft by passing a employee safety invoice requiring rideshare corporations to provide drivers 14 days’ advance discover earlier than they’re deactivated within the system.
At present, drivers might be deactivated instantly on the app.
The invoice has an exemption for egregious circumstances like bodily abuse and sexual assault.
The council additionally expanded caps on avenue vendor permits, giving 10,500 new common merchandising licenses in 2027.
Lawmakers additionally authorised an efficient $40 an hour minimal wage — combining wage and important advantages — for building staff on city-funded initiatives.
Sanctuary metropolis
A Democratic Socialists of America-backed sanctuary metropolis invoice bucking President Trump’s immigration crackdown handed 39-9.
The “Safer Sanctuary Act” by lefty Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán blocks ICE from opening places of work on Rikers Island and amends sanctuary legal guidelines to clarify they apply irrespective of the federal company doing immigration enforcement.
“This can be a a lot wanted replace to NY sanctuary metropolis legal guidelines, and the primary main piece of immigration laws to be handed by the NYC Council throughout the second Trump administration,” the DSA’s New York Metropolis chapter crowed in a put up on X.
