S 4315: Authorizes the New York city council to oversee the activities of the New York city housing authority.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4315 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 4, 2025 ___________ 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: 1 Section 1. The public housing law is amended by adding a new section 2 402-h to read as follows: 3 § 402-h. New York city council oversight. The New York city council 4 as established in section twenty-one of the New York city charter is 5 empowered to mandate that the New York city housing authority produce 6 reports about any facets of its operations or the condition of the 7 projects under its management, including any project based section eight 8 voucher developments in which the authority has an ownership stake, 9 through the passage of a local law. Such a law shall determine which 10 information is to be included in the report, the deadline for the 11 production of the report, whether the reporting mandate applies once or 12 is recurring, and which local authorities shall receive copies. A copy 13 of any such reports must be provided to the commissioner and shall be 14 considered an agency document for the purposes of article six of the 15 public officers law. 16 § 2. Subdivision a of section 29 of the New York city charter, as 17 added by a vote of the people of the city of New York at the general 18 election held in November 1989, is amended to read as follows: 19 a. The council, acting as a committee of the whole, and each standing 20 or special committee of the council, through hearings or otherwise: 21 1. [may] May investigate any matters within its jurisdiction relating 22 to the property, affairs, or government of the city or of any county 23 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. LBD05504-01-5 
 S. 4315 2 1 tuation of the purposes or provisions of this charter or any laws relat- 2 ing to the city or to any county within the city. 3 2. [shall] Shall review on a regular and continuous basis the activ- 4 ities of the agencies of the city, including their service goals and 5 performance and management efficiency. Each unit of appropriation in 6 the adopted budget of the city shall be assigned to a standing commit- 7 tee. Each standing committee of the council shall hold at least one 8 hearing each year relating to the activities of each of the agencies 9 under its jurisdiction. 10 3. Shall review on a regular and continuous basis the activities of 11 the New York city housing authority, including the service goals, 12 performance and management efficiency of such authority. Such authority 13 shall be assigned to a standing committee. Such standing committee of 14 the council shall hold at least one hearing each year relating to the 15 activities of the New York city housing authority. 16 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall 17 have become a law.