NY State Senate Bill 2019-S2760

Senate Bill S2760

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Authorizes the New York city council to oversee the activities of the New York city housing authority

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Housing, Construction And Community Development Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to housing, construction and community development
Jan 29, 2019	referred to housing, construction and community development

2019-S2760 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A2319
Current Committee:: Senate Housing, Construction And Community Development
Law Section:: Public Housing Law
Laws Affected:: Add §402-e, Pub Hous L; amd §29, NYC Chart
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S5365, A8013
2017-2018: S1989, A3113, A8968
2021-2022: S5806, A3610, A9414
2023-2024: S2668, A819

2019-S2760 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes the New York city council to oversee the activities of the New York city housing authority.

2019-S2760 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S2760

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public housing law and the New York city charter, in
relation to authorizing the New York city council to oversee the activ-
ities of the New York city housing authority

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This legislation grants the New York City Council greater oversight over
the activities of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) by giving
the council the ability to mandate that NYCHA produce reports and
provide information to the Council.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one amends the public housing law by adding a new section 402-d
that gives the NYC Council the power to mandate that NYCHA produce
reports about any of its operations by passing a local law.  Such a

local law shall determined the information to be included in the report,
whether it is a recurring report or not, and to whom it will be issued.
The commissioner of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal shall
be given copies of any such reports, and the reports shall be treated as
public documents.

Section two amends section twenty nine of the NYC Charter by granting
the NYC Council the same oversight powers over NYCHA that it currently
has over any agency of the NYC government.

Section three sets an effective date of thirty days after this act shall
have become law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

NYCHA is the largest housing authority in the United States, and its
over 179,000 units are home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers, which
represents almost 5% of the population of New York City as a whole.
Unfortunately, the local elected legislators representing these resi-
dents have little oversight powers over NYCHA. While NYCHA as an entity
is chartered under State law, the Mayor of NYC has complete control over
its board, appointing all seven members and choosing the chair at his or
her discretion. For all intents and purposes NYCHA functions as an agen-
cy of NYC, but the ability of the Council to oversee the operations of
NYCHA are strictly limited because it was established as an authority by
the State. This legislation is meant to grant the NYC Council and its
members greater oversight powers over NYCHA.

This bill would grant the NYC Council the same power to review the oper-
ations of NYCHA on a continuous basis that it has over city agencies.
The legislation would also give the NYC council the power to mandate the
creation of reports by NYCHA through the passage of a local law.

Currently the NYC Council can not mandate that NYCHA produce any reports
on its operations. Giving the local elected legislators of NYCHA's resi-
dents greater powers to oversee the Authorities operations will increase
the voice of residents and hopefully make NYCHA's operations more trans-
parent.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S. 1989 of 2017-18 - Passed Senate.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

No fiscal implications for the State.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2019-S2760 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2760
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 29, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction  and
   Community Development
 
 AN ACT to amend the public housing law and the New York city charter, in
   relation  to  authorizing  the  New  York  city council to oversee the
   activities of the New York city housing authority
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The public housing law is amended by adding a new section
 402-e to read as follows:
   § 402-E. NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT.  THE NEW YORK  CITY  COUNCIL
 AS  ESTABLISHED  IN  SECTION  TWENTY-ONE OF THE NEW YORK CITY CHARTER IS
 EMPOWERED TO MANDATE THAT THE NEW YORK CITY  HOUSING  AUTHORITY  PRODUCE
 REPORTS  ABOUT  ANY  FACETS  OF  ITS  OPERATIONS OR THE CONDITION OF THE
 PROJECTS UNDER ITS MANAGEMENT, INCLUDING ANY PROJECT BASED SECTION EIGHT
 VOUCHER DEVELOPMENTS IN WHICH THE  AUTHORITY  HAS  AN  OWNERSHIP  STAKE,
 THROUGH  THE  PASSAGE  OF  A LOCAL LAW. SUCH A LAW SHALL DETERMINE WHICH
 INFORMATION IS TO BE INCLUDED  IN  THE  REPORT,  THE  DEADLINE  FOR  THE
 PRODUCTION  OF THE REPORT, WHETHER THE REPORTING MANDATE APPLIES ONCE OR
 IS RECURRING, AND WHICH LOCAL AUTHORITIES SHALL RECEIVE COPIES.  A  COPY
 OF  ANY  SUCH  REPORTS MUST BE PROVIDED TO THE COMMISSIONER AND SHALL BE
 CONSIDERED AN AGENCY DOCUMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF  ARTICLE  SIX  OF  THE
 PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW.
   §  2.  Subdivision  a  of  section 29 of the New York city charter, as
 added by a vote of the people of the city of New  York  at  the  general
 election held in November 1989, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  The council, acting as a committee of the whole, and each standing
 or special committee of the council, through hearings or otherwise:
   1. [may] MAY investigate any matters within its jurisdiction  relating
 to  the  property,  affairs,  or government of the city or of any county
 within the city, or to any other powers of the council, or to the effec-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD06089-01-9

 S. 2760                             2
 
 tuation of the purposes or provisions of this charter or any laws relat-
 ing to the city or to any county within the city.
   2.  [shall]  SHALL review on a regular and continuous basis the activ-
 ities of the agencies of the city, including  their  service  goals  and
 performance  and  management efficiency.   Each unit of appropriation in
 the adopted budget of the city shall be assigned to a  standing  commit-
 tee.    Each  standing  committee of the council shall hold at least one
 hearing each year relating to the activities of  each  of  the  agencies
 under its jurisdiction.
   3.  SHALL  REVIEW  ON A REGULAR AND CONTINUOUS BASIS THE ACTIVITIES OF
 THE NEW YORK  CITY  HOUSING  AUTHORITY,  INCLUDING  THE  SERVICE  GOALS,
 PERFORMANCE  AND MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY OF SUCH AUTHORITY. SUCH AUTHORITY
 SHALL BE ASSIGNED TO A STANDING COMMITTEE. SUCH  STANDING  COMMITTEE  OF
 THE  COUNCIL  SHALL  HOLD AT LEAST ONE HEARING EACH YEAR RELATING TO THE
 ACTIVITIES OF THE NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.

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