NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4991
SPONSOR: Epstein TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to requiring that the city council appoint members to, desig-
nate the chairman of, fill vacancies of and remove members of the rent
guidelines board
PURPOSE:
To require that the New York City Council, rather than the Mayor of the
City of New York, appoint or remove the members of rent guidelines
board.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Subdivision a of section 26-510 of the administrative
code of the city of New York to entrust in the New York City Council all
powers of appointment, removal, and designation of chairmanship current-
ly held by the Mayor of New York City.
JUSTIFICATION:
City Councilors have extensive local knowledge of the housing needs in
their districts, so the City Council as a whole is uniquely suited to
judging whether appointees to the rent guidelines board are appropriate.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4991
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to requiring that the city council appoint members to, desig-
nate the chairman of, fill vacancies of and remove members of the rent
guidelines board
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 26-510 of the administrative code
2 of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:
3 a. There shall be a rent guidelines board to consist of nine members,
4 appointed by the [mayor] city council. Two members shall be represen-
5 tative of tenants, two shall be representative of owners of property,
6 and five shall be public members each of whom shall have had at least
7 five years experience in either finance, economics or housing. One
8 public member shall be designated by the [mayor] city council to serve
9 as chairman and shall hold no other public office. No member, officer or
10 employee of any municipal rent regulation agency or the state division
11 of housing and community renewal and no person who owns or manages real
12 estate covered by this law or who is an officer of any owner or tenant
13 organization shall serve on a rent guidelines board. One public member,
14 one member representative of tenants and one member representative of
15 owners shall serve for a term ending two years from January first next
16 succeeding the date of their appointment; one public member, one member
17 representative of tenants and one member representative of owners shall
18 serve for terms ending three years from the January first next succeed-
19 ing the date of their appointment and two public members shall serve for
20 terms ending four years from January first next succeeding the dates of
21 their appointment. The chairman shall serve at the pleasure of the
22 [mayor] city council. Thereafter, all members shall continue in office
23 until their successors have been appointed and qualified. The [mayor]
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01724-01-3
A. 4991 2
1 city council shall fill any vacancy which may occur by reason of death,
2 resignation or otherwise in a manner consistent with the original
3 appointment. A member may be removed by the [mayor] city council for
4 cause, but not without an opportunity to be heard in person or by coun-
5 sel, in his or her defense, upon not less than ten days notice.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; and provided that the
7 amendments to subdivision a of section 26-510 of chapter 4 of title 26
8 of the administrative code of the city of New York made by section one
9 of this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall
10 not affect the expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520
11 of such law.
