A City Council hearing (photo: William Alatriste)
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council appear to be on the verge of a budget agreement, establishing the city’s spending plan for fiscal year 2017, which begins July 1.
On May 24, the City Council held its final hearing on de Blasio’s $82.2 billion executive budget for fiscal 2017. The series of executive budget hearings was another step in the lengthy and detailed budget process that includes the mayor’s preliminary budget, a month of preliminary budget hearings, and the Council’s preliminary budget response. After executive budget hearings, final negotiations have been taking place between the de Blasio administration and Council leadership while Council members and advocates make their final public and private pitches for more funding.
During the budget process, though, there was one City Council committee with oversight of a city agency that did not hold either an executive budget hearing or a preliminary budget hearing, and six other Council committees held preliminary budget hearings, but did not have executive budget hearings. Declining to hold a hearing signals that there are no related budget issues to address.
The decision whether to hold an executive budget hearing is at the discretion of the City Council Speaker’s office and the Council Finance Division, which typically decide not to bring mayoral agencies back for an executive budget hearing if there were no major changes from the preliminary to the executive budget for those agencies. All agencies have preliminary budget hearings, a spokesperson for Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said.
Of the six committees that held a preliminary budget hearing but not an executive budget hearing, a few have oversight of agencies with budget issues. The Committee on Standards and Ethics, for example, has oversight of the Conflicts of Interest Board, which had three 2015 requests for additional funding denied by the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (the requests were for about $200,000 in additional funding to hire more ethics trainers and give raises aimed at employee retention).
The unfulfilled requests were discussed at the March 8 preliminary budget hearing for COIB. After that hearing held by the Committee on Standards and Ethics, COIB sent a letter on March 10 to the city budget office requesting about $26,000 in additional funds for its most “critical budgetary needs,” which was met. However, COIB made it clear at the preliminary budget hearing that it was struggling to retain staff and to meet its charter-mandated role due to a lack of funding, and that senior management staff had even taken pay cuts in order to hire new staff. COIB settled for requesting what it saw as a minimum in additional funding after having several requests denied, something which could have been readdressed at an executive budget hearing.
When asked why the Committee on Standards and Ethics did not have an executive budget hearing, chair of the committee, Council Member Alan Maisel, told Gotham Gazette, “I can’t answer that…I have no idea, call the budget office.”
The City Council Committee on Contracts also did not hold an executive budget hearing. On May 26, after executive budget hearings had ended, 47 Council members signed a letter to the mayor asking the administration to fund a 2.5 percent increase for the administrative costs of nonprofits that contract with the city. Dozens of nonprofit workers and several Council members rallied on the steps of City Hall, raising the same issues that these nonprofits, like the Human Services Council and the New York Immigration Coalition, had brought up during the relevant preliminary budget hearing. The letter from nearly the entire City Council made it clear that the funding needs of nonprofits that contract with the city remained unaddressed.
Council Member Helen Rosenthal, chair of the contracts committee, said she believes that no executive budget hearing was held because “It’s not really for the director of the Office of Contracts to respond to this. It’s the OMB who is responsible for allocating these funds to the agencies. But I was asking and other Council members were asking at each of the agency hearings as well, what are we doing to cover these costs?”
Rosenthal did indeed raise the issue with OMB during the first executive budget hearing on May 6.
The Committee on Consumer Affairs, which oversees the Department of Consumer Affairs, also did not hold an executive budget hearing, despite the agency’s growth under the de Blasio administration. Chair of the committee, Council Member Rafael Espinal, said in a statement to Gotham Gazette that his committee did not have an executive budget hearing “because there was a very minimal change in the agency’s executive budget from the preliminary budget,” as “the agency’s only new need was for $180,000 in personnel services costs and other adjustments totaled less than $500,000.”
The mayor’s office did not respond for comment regarding those agencies not asked back to the Council for executive budget hearings.
The Committee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by Council Member Vincent Gentile with oversight of the Department of Investigation, also did not hold an executive budget hearing, “because the DOI agency requests were unchanged from the Mayor’s preliminary budget and were fully met in the FY’17 executive budget,” said Travis Lamprecht, communications director for Gentile.
Neither the Committee on Civil Rights nor the Committee on Courts and Legal Services have direct oversight of specific city agencies, and neither held an executive budget hearing. Chair of the Committee on Courts and Legal Services, Council Member Rory Lancman, told Gotham Gazette, "There were no substantial changes in our area of jurisdiction between the preliminary and executive budget, so the Committee instead held an oversight hearing on court record accuracy."
One committee, the Committee on Civil Service and Labor, chaired by Council Member I. Daneek Miller, did not hold a preliminary or executive budget hearing, and has no hearings scheduled before a budget deal is due. A spokesperson for Miller said that his committee “does not have a preliminary budget hearing because it does not oversee a City Department or Agency. The closest one it oversees is the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, but that is only over City employees.”
DCAS is the principal administrative support agency for the city of New York and has been allocated $1.1 billion in this year’s executive budget. According to its website, DCAS “supports City agencies' workforce needs in recruiting, hiring and training City employees; provides overall facilities management for 55 public buildings; and purchases, sells and leases real property,” among other functions.
Four other committees (of the City Council’s 37) did not hold preliminary or executive budget hearings - those committees do not have direct oversight of any specific city agency.
The Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, chaired by Council Member Mark Treyger, has oversight of the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency, the Build it Back Program, and the Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability. All within the Mayor’s Office, none is an official city department.
Strangely, the recovery and resiliency committee twice had an executive budget hearing scheduled in May, but both were deferred, and no preliminary budget hearing took place. Instead, Treyger, told Gotham Gazette, the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency held an oversight hearing on June 6 on “budget items with regard to the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency, Build it Back, and all of the Sandy recovery applications, and whether there's equity on resiliency spending.”
“I was very insistent in making sure that my committee holds an oversight hearing with regard to budget matters before budget adoption,” Treyger added.
Another of those four is the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Elections, which has oversight of Council structure and organization as well as appointments to city boards. The rules committee deleted a committee that the Council had deemed unnecessary during a March hearing, in part citing that it did not have oversight of a city agency. The Committee on State and Federal Legislation, which rarely meets and mainly does so to pass resolutions, also did not hold a budget hearing. And, the Committee on Waterfronts has met just once this year.
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by Meg O'Connor, Gotham Gazette
@megoconnor13 @GothamGazette
Rep. Charles Rangel is retiring (photo via Rep. Rangel on Flickr)
While many voters and most media are focused on the race for President, this year will also see all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats on the ballot. New York’s 27 seats in the House and one of its two Senate seats - the one held by Senator Charles Schumer - will be voted on during June 28 primaries and the November 8 general election.
In an odd - some say counterproductive and undemocratic - twist, New York is holding four election days this year. Many New Yorkers have already had the chance to vote in one election this year—the April 19 presidential primaries—and, in the fall, will have the opportunity to vote in September state Senate and state Assembly primary elections before the general election with all of the aforementioned offices on the ballot.
Ahead of the June 28 congressional primaries, things are largely quiet in New York City’s 13 districts, though a few incumbents are being challenged and there is one particularly prominent primary - that to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel. Rangel is one of three congressional incumbents across the state not seeking reelection this year.
Twelve of New York City’s 13 districts are currently represented by Democrats, with the exception of District 11, which includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn and is represented by Rep. Daniel Donovan, who is not facing a primary challenge.
Rangel represents New York’s thirteenth congressional district, which includes upper Manhattan and a small part of the Bronx. Rangel has served the area since 1971. His decision to retire has prompted a crowded field eager to fill the rare empty seat. That crowd includes state Senator Adriano Espaillat, who challenged Rangel in both 2012 and 2014. Rangel has endorsed Assembly Member Keith Wright as his chosen successor.
Christine Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University, says that Rangel’s endorsement is a boon to Wright’ campaign. “Having Charlie Rangel’s endorsement is important because Charlie Rangel’s people, who support [Wright], know they have to vote in June, not just in November,” Greer told Gotham Gazette.
Greer says that the June congressional primary is often forgotten, especially since New Yorkers will be asked to go to the polls three other times this year. With a bevy of other Democratic candidates in the running, Rangel’s endorsement could indeed be a difference-maker. It is a virtual certainty that the Democratic primary winner will win the general election in November and be seated in Congress come January.
Along with Wright and Espaillat, other Democratic primary candidates in NY13 are Assembly Member Guillermo Linares, Adam Clayton Powell IV, Clyde Williams, Suzan Johnson Cook, and Michael Gallagher.
In New York City, several Democratic congressional incumbents will face primary challengers, though they are expected to win reelection easily:
In District 5, which is located largely in Queens, incumbent Rep. Gregory Meeks will face Ali Mirza, a businessman and advocate for immigrants, according to his campaign website.
In District 7, which is mostly located in Brooklyn, incumbent Rep. Nydia Valázquez will face two Democratic challengers: Jeff Kurzon and Yungman Lee. Kurzon, an attorney, challenged Valázquez in 2014, but lost to the 24 year-incumbent. Lee is a community banker, who has worked as an attorney and a bank regulator, according to his campaign website.
In District 10, mostly in Manhattan, incumbent Rep. Jerrold Nadler will take on his first Democratic primary challenger in 20 years - Oliver Rosenberg. Rosenberg is a businessman, a banker, and advocate for the LGBTQ Jewish community, according to his campaign website.
In District 12, which includes parts of Manhattan and Queens, incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney is being challenged by Pete Lindner, who, according to his campaign website, is a statistical analyst and advocate for the national legalization of marijuana.
In District 15, in the Bronx, José Serrano, the incumbent, has served the district for 26 years. Democratic challenger Leonel Baez will also be on the ballot; however, it does not seem that Baez has made a strong effort to campaign (his official campaign website is limited).
Meanwhile, several city-based races appear that they will see incumbents unopposed in the primary. This will also be the case outside New York City. However, there will also be a number of contested races leading to November’s Election Day, especially in places considered swing districts, where Republicans and Democrats have recently held the same seat or where party registration numbers are closer than they are in many heavily-Democratic New York City districts.
Within the bounds of New York City, only one congressional seat appears open to party oscillation - the eleventh congressional district, which includes Staten Island and part of Southern Brooklyn. That congressional seat is currently held by Daniel Donovan, a Republican, who succeeded his predecessor Michael Grimm in a 2015 special election called after Grimm pleaded guilty to tax fraud. Even while facing charges in 2014, Grimm had kept his seat in a reelection bid.
Donovan, formerly the Staten Island District Attorney, is heavily favored to keep the seat, though Richard Reichard, the Democratic challenger, and his supporters are looking to see how a likely Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential matchup could help lift down-ballot Democrats.
David Birdsell, a professor and dean at Baruch College, doubts that the race will be competitive.
“This seat has seen a good deal of turnover in recent years, owing to redistricting and to incumbents’ personal and legal troubles. Donovan won the special election handily against a Democrat and a Green Party candidate; he’s drawing the same mix in the fall,” said Birdsell.
Despite believing that there won’t be much of a district 11 contest in November, Birdsell concedes that Trump’s candidacy could potentially boost Democratic voter turnout. “[Trump’s candidacy] could help Reichard in the eleventh, irrespective of what Republican voters think of Donovan’s willingness to campaign on Trump’s behalf. There isn’t compelling evidence as yet that Trump has expanded GOP appeal, but he could yet deliver on the promise of lots of independent votes, and that could make a major difference in the other direction. Probably not enough so to make a difference in any city races with the possible exception of the eleventh.”
While New Yorkers will vote for their congressional representatives in the House and for President come November, there will also be one New York Senate seat on the ballot as well as all 213 seats of the state Legislature. Incumbent Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer will be running for reelection against Republican candidate Wendy Long and Libertarian candidate Alex Merced. If Schumer wins, he would enter his fourth six-year term serving as a senator.
As of now, New York’s two Senators are Democrats, as are 18 of its 27 congressional representatives. However, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House are both controlled by Republicans. November’s elections will determine control of both houses, as well as the presidency.
Within New York, Democrats hold an overwhelming majority in the state Assembly, with more than 100 of the Assembly’s 150 seats. The state Senate has a much more complicated picture, with its 63 seats split in somewhat strange fashion and control of the chamber on the line in November. Republicans currently hold 31 seats, not quite a majority, but one Democrat, Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, continues to caucus with them. There are also five members of the Independent Democratic Conference, which has a governing coalition with Republicans through this year. Democrats recently flipped one seat in a special election, that for the Long Island seat vacated by former Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who was convicted on federal corruption charges.
In terms of party control of government and the policy ramifications thereof, there is a great deal at stake for New York and the country come November 8.
For the upcoming New York congressional primaries June 28, only voters registered with a party can vote - voters can check their registration through the state Board of Elections. New voters had to register several weeks ago to be eligible for this vote, while anyone changing party registration had to do so more than a year ago.
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by Rebecca Oh, Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette
Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland (photo: William Alatriste)
Representatives from the de Blasio administration testified in “strong support” of a package of legislation to make feminine hygiene products readily available and free in New York City public schools, shelters, and correctional facilities on Thursday at the City Council’s first hearing on the bills since they were introduced in March.
Azadeh Khalili, executive director of the Commission on Gender Equity, testified on behalf of the administration, along with representatives from the Department of Education, the Department of Corrections, and the Department of Social Services, and said that the administration “strongly supports the Council’s effort to expand access to feminine hygiene products to all New Yorkers,” but “would like to work with the Council on some of the technical issues in the bills.”
The potential cost of the mandates, which will be in the millions of dollars annually, and the technical aspects of implementation were not heavily examined during the initial hearing. “We would like to agree to the language of the bills” before addressing the cost, Khalili said. “If we’re in full agreement with some of the technical changes, then we can move to the cost of the bills.”
The three bills are spearheaded by City Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the lead sponsors, and the hearing comes just as New York State is set to eliminate the so-called “tampon tax” - the sales tax on feminine hygiene products.
The main “technical changes” the administration wants to see addressed have to do with the bill, introduced by Mark-Viverito, requiring the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to provide feminine hygiene products to all female residents in temporary shelters, here meaning Department of Homeless Services family shelters and single adult women shelters, Department of Youth and Community Development shelters, and Human Resources Administration domestic violence shelters.
“The Department of Social Services strongly encourages the Council to include all Department of Homeless Services and Human Resources Administration shelter facilities in the bill,” Khalili said. “This expansion will ensure maximum distribution of feminine hygiene products to all clients who require such products, including those in HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) shelters and at single adult male shelters.”
The city is concerned that the current language of the bill would exclude transgender men or intersex individuals who still menstruate but reside in Department of Homeless Services single male shelters or HASA shelters from the expanded access to these products. Women also reside in HASA shelters, Khalili said, and the language of the bill should be altered in order to be fully inclusive.
Additionally, the administration would like to “work with the Council to limit the definition of feminine hygiene products to only include tampons and sanitary napkins,” Khalili said. Unlike the bills to improve access to tampons and pads in schools and prisons, the bill to improve access to feminine hygiene products in shelters designates a broader list of menstrual products, including “tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups, sanitary napkins,” and leaves it open to “ any other similar items” principally used for menstrual hygiene.
“Limiting the definition means that HRA and DHS would not be responsible for providing specific brands or products that are unavailable locally or domestically,” Khalili added. Members of the Council’s Committee on Women’s Issues, which held the hearing under the leadership of Chair Laurie Cumbo, were receptive to working on adapting the language of the bill.
The administration expressed support for Ferreras-Copeland’s bill requiring the city’s elementary, middle, and high schools to provide students with direct access to free feminine hygiene products in school bathrooms as is, though left the door open for further conversations on “technical amendments” to the bill, and was similarly supportive Mark-Viverito’s bill requiring the Department of Corrections to provide inmates with feminine hygiene products immediately upon request.
Ferreras-Copeland and the Department of Education have already worked to expand a pilot program of free tampons and pads by installing 380 free dispensers in the girls bathrooms in 25 middle and high schools in Queens and the Bronx since March, providing access to free tampons and pads to the 11,600 girls attending the schools in the program.The principal at Arts and Business attributes a 2.4 percent increase in attendance rates in the months after the dispenser was installed to tampons and pads being freely available.
The program has been very well received by both parents and students, and the products will continue to be made available through the 2016-2017 school year, said Aloysee Jarmoszuk, chief of staff for the division of operations at the DOE.
Jarmoszuk estimates that it would take eight to 14 weeks and cost somewhere between $2 and $5 million to expand the program to all public schools throughout the city, and “possibly about a million or two less than that to maintain it.”
Representatives from the Food Bank for NYC, Care for the Homeless, Planned Parenthood of NYC, National Institute for Reproductive Health, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Brooklyn Defender Services, PowerPlay NYC, and the United Federation of Teachers all came to testify in support of the legislation, as did activist Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Congressional Rep. Grace Meng of Queens, who has introduced a bill in Congress that would reclassify feminine hygiene products so that they can be purchased with flexible spending accounts.
Warden Michelle Clifford testified that she was not aware of any complaints from inmates regarding access to feminine hygiene products, though Andrea Nieves from Brooklyn Defender Services refuted that claim, saying that is not what she has heard from women she represents.
Nieves believes the current policy of “providing women with unusable quality hygiene products in insufficient quantities after repeated requests does not meet the spirit of the bill as proposed.” Though there is more to be done to improve access to these products for women in prison, Nieves says, the hearing and the bill do represent “important first steps in codifying a right for women incarcerated in city jails to access feminine hygiene products.”
Advocates had a few other suggestions for improving the bills, like Sola Stamm from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, who recommended changing the language from “feminine hygiene products” to “menstrual hygiene products,” a more inclusive term which acknowledges the “spectrum of gender identities who experience menstruation.”
Stamm also suggested that the bill to make tampons and pads available immediately upon request in prisons ought to be extended to immigration detention facilities in New York as well in order to expand access to civil detainees held within those facilities.
The bills could also be improved, said Stephanie Gendell, associate executive director for policy and advocacy at Citizen’s Committee for Children of New York, by involving the Administration for Children’s Services to extend increased access to menstrual hygiene products to young women in the juvenile justice system.
“This is the first step,” Ferreras-Copeland said, “as I have mentioned before, I think we should have products in the libraries, I think we should have these products in recreation centers, so I now put this back on you to continue the fight and continue the advocacy.”
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by Meg O'Connor, Gotham Gazette
@megoconnor13 @GothamGazette