Politics & Government

City Hall Roundup for March

Take a look at this list of bills passed by the New York City Council during the past month.

1. Int. 814-2012—The Council voted to override Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of a previously passed bill outlawing discrimination based on an individual’s unemployment status. This change to the Human Rights Law means that employers will no longer be permitted to restrict job offerings to individuals who are currently employed. Employers who violate this local civil rights law will be subject to cash penalties and may be required to compensate the job seeker for lost wages. The law will take effect June 13.

2. Int. 1017-2013—This law is designed to give financial relief to business owners in areas of the city hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy by waiving certain fees to encourage them to clean up and reopen their businesses as soon as possible. The fees must be related to work required to repair the premises or necessary systems, such as heating and plumbing.

3. Res. 1670-2013—The Council passed this resolution, which called upon New York State Senate to pass legislation to raise the state minimum wage to $9 per hour and to index future automatic increases to inflation. This legal change has since been approved to the state legislature and will be phased in over three years.

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4. Int. 945-2013—This new law is designed to address the growing unemployment rate for recent veterans by making information from a federal veterans job database available on the website of the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs. It also requires that all open city jobs and municipal examinations are listed in the federal veterans’ jobs database. In addition, the city will work to identify which military experiences or specialties are most likely to qualify a veteran for particular employment opportunities and include this information in the searchable database.

5. Int. 866-2012—This new law is designed to provide the City Council, the Department of Youth and Family Services (DYCD) and the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) with data needed to be sure that appropriate services are provided to youth in the city who are commercially sexually exploited. Effective immediately, DYCD and ACS must collect information on young people (under age 24) they encounter in this system and provide detailed annual reports to the City Council.

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6. Res. 1671-2103—This resolution calls on the state legislature to pass and the governor to enact New York State DREAM Act (S.2378/A.2597), a bill that attempts to improve immigrant youth access to scholarships and state financial aid, thereby increasing immigrant access to higher education.


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