Council will vote to override the Mayor’s veto of the Paid Sick Time Act

Council will vote on legislation to enhance public safety and increase the public’s confidence in the City’s police force

New York, NY- Today, the City Council will vote to adopt the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 budget, marking the eighth consecutive, on-time balanced budget that City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and the Council negotiated with the Administration.

The Council will also vote to override the Mayor’s veto of the Paid Sick Time Act to require employers to provide sick time – paid or unpaid depending on the size of the business – to employees.

In an effort to improve public safety, protect civil liberties and increase the public’s confidence in the police force, the Council will vote on a bill to establish an NYPD Inspector General. The Council will also vote to amend the administrative code in relation to prohibiting bias-based profiling.

Additionally, the Council will vote to lift restrictions on operating hours at sidewalk cafés and a bill to bring greater transparency and accuracy of the assessment process for income producing properties.

FY 2014 Budget

Following the budget agreement with the Mayor earlier this week, the Council will vote today to adopt the City’s budget for FY 2014. Highlights of the budget agreement include keeping all public libraries and pools open; restoring cuts to child care and after school services; preventing layoffs of hundreds of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) employees; and stopping the closure of community and senior centers at NYCHA facilities.

Speaker Quinn said, “Leadership means working collaboratively to get results for New Yorkers and that’s what happened with this budget. This year, we’ve preserved child care seats and after school programming that so many families depend on. We’ve kept all fire companies open. We’ve also ensured that that all of our libraries – which serve as our neighborhood community centers – remain open and continue operating. Swimming pools will stay open. Our immigrant communities will receive enhancements to legal services. Our Department for the Aging will get an increase in funding to help reduce the waiting list and caseloads for home-bound seniors. More funds will be available to help keep at-risk young men in college at CUNY. And now every district in the city will receive funding to prevent and respond to domestic violence. I want to thank my Council colleagues and the Bloomberg Administration for working collaboratively on behalf all New Yorkers.”

“We came a long way over the course of this budget process. This year, our City’s finances were faced with two primary obstacles—one natural, Superstorm Sandy, and one manmade, the federal sequestration,” said Council Finance Chair Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. “Recognizing our shared predicament, elected officials and agency leadership put in a lot of hard work and tough negotiation towards producing what I can confidently say is a fair and responsible budget that provides both core services to New Yorkers and lays the groundwork for needed investments into the City’s future. Many thanks to the dedication and hard work from the staff of the Council and Administration, Speaker Christine Quinn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and of course the public, many of whom wrote letters, made phone calls, and waited in line hours to testify and meet with their Council Members. Together, we’ve continued to move our City forward on sound financial footing.”

Override of the Mayor’s Veto of the Paid Sick Time Act (Introduction 97-A)

The Council will vote to override the Mayor’s veto of the Paid Sick Time Act. This bill will ensure all New Yorkers can take time off to care for themselves and their families when ill, without fear or threat of losing their job. Specifically, the bill will require businesses with 20 or more employees to provide five paid sick days to their employees beginning April 1, 2014. The mandate will extend to businesses with 15 or more employees on October 1, 2015. Employers not required to provide paid sick days under the law, will be required to provide five unpaid sick days to their employees.

“After more than three years of public debate and revision, the New York City Paid Sick Time Act I introduced is overwhelming popular among New Yorkers in all walks of life and 45 of 51 Council Members. Upon today’s Council override of the Mayor’s veto, this law will codify basic rights for approximately one million New Yorkers: the right to earned paid days off when you or a family member falls ill, and the right to keep your job if you must stay home. New York has traditionally been at the forefront of creating safe, fair working conditions for its people and I am proud of the Council that acts today to confirm this legacy,” said Council Member Gale A. Brewer.

NYPD Inspector General (Introduction 1079)

This legislation would task the Commissioner of the Department of Investigation (DOI) with the duty to review, study, audit and make recommendations relating to the operations, policies, programs and practices – including ongoing partnerships with other law enforcement agencies – of the NYPD. The DOI commissioner could carry out these duties, task an existing staff member with the duties or hire someone new. The Mayor, in consultation with DOI and the NYPD, will decide how sensitive information – including information related to security threats, intelligence work and ongoing investigations – should be treated, and will create guidelines regarding the treatment of such information and share them with the Council.

The Executive Director of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and the Chief of the NYPD’s internal affairs bureau would also have to report any problems they have reason to believe would adversely affect the Department, public safety, civil liberties and civil rights, or the public’s confidence in the police to the DOI. There are protections for whistleblowers who report to the DOI about problems and the DOI’s website will have a link for the public to anonymously report complaints.

Finally, the DOI would be required to produce two kinds of reports to the Mayor, Council and Police Commissioner and promptly post the reports to the web.

Bias-based Profiling Bill (Introduction 1080)

This bill would change the City’s prohibition on racial profiling by re-characterizing the prohibited act as “bias-based” profiling and amend its definition to include more categories of people who may not be profiled. It would also create causes of action for those who feel they have been unlawfully profiled.

Permitting Sidewalk Cafes to Operate on Sundays beginning at 10:00 a.m. (Introduction 875-A)

This legislation would expand hours of operation at sidewalk cafés. Restrictions currently in place prohibit sidewalk cafés from opening before noon on Sundays. Under the legislation, sidewalk cafes will be permitted to open by 10:00 am on Sundays.

“New Yorkers will not be denied their Sunday brunch in the beautiful weather,” said Council Member Dan Garodnick. “This regulation is outdated, widely disregarded, and hostile to business. It needs to change.”

Real Property Income and Expense (RPIE)

The Council will also vote to approve a bill that provides more consistent and better information about property assessments for owners of properties who file income and expense statements by advancing the filing date from September 1st to June 1st.

By giving the Department of Finance a little more time to work on the assessments and get ahead of the curve, tens of thousands of property owners in return will see a more transparent assessment that better explains how the agency determined values and how they compare to neighboring properties, helping to alleviate some of the confusion and frustration around property tax bills.