They crammed before the Mam.
City Council members passed a whopping 51 bills during a marathon end-of year meeting before Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who was in Mexico as the flurry of law-making unfolded Thursday night, said he “will be reviewing our next steps regarding the bills passed today,” in a statement from his spokesman Fabien Levy.
Several controversial measures were passed, especially on housing, that could draw a last-gasp veto from Adams — and set up City Council legislative battles extending into Mamdani’s term.
Here are the notable last-minute bills passed as the City Council rode off into 2025’s sunset.
Public safety
A hotly contested bill giving the Civilian Complaint Review Board direct access to NYPD cops’ body-camera footage was approved over the strenuous objections of a powerful police union.
But council members passed the bill 34-9, with five abstentions — leaving it just shy of a veto-proof majority.
Adams, a former police captain, is “still reviewing details of the legislation” before he decides whether to sign, a City Hall spokesperson said.
Hizzoner has until Dec. 31 to veto any bills — a move that could set up an override battle with the next council.
Outgoing Speaker Adrienne Adams, who is no relation to the mayor, viewed the body-camera bill as part of her “legacy,” insiders have said.
She argued before the vote that it was necessary to end the civilian police watchdog’s reliance on the NYPD to get footage during misconduct probes into cops.
“Providing the CCRB with direct access to body-worn camera footage will increase its ability to determine the merit of misconduct allegations,” she said.
Lawmakers did overwhelmingly pass a bill requiring the NYPD to unencrypt their police radios by a veto-proof 41-7 margin.
Housing
A socialist-friendly bill giving nonprofits first crack at buying affordable housing passed by a 30-10 margin — not enough to forestall a potential veto.
The “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act,” or COPA, drew fire from real estate groups, property owners and Republicans as an assault on private ownership.
“This government-engineered, socialist scheme sanctions politically-connected, nonprofit housing slumlords and predatory developers to snatch private property at depressed values from hard-working small owners, many of them immigrant multigenerational families, that have invested their blood, sweat, and life-savings in their buildings,” raged Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York.
Julie Menin — the City Council’s presumptive next speaker — would ultimately decide whether to bring bills up for an override vote next year, should Adams veto any.
The Manhattan councilwoman was among eight lawmakers who abstained on the COPA vote.
The council also passed a suite of bills that reserve 4% of newly constructed units for home ownership and mandate the percentage of two- and three-bedroom units in newly constructed subsidized rental housing. Another bill required 80% of new units to be affordable for low-income households.
City Hall officials railed against the bills, noting Mamdani’s team lobbied against several of them. The bills would “worsen the affordability crisis” and “sandbag” Mamdani and Menin on affordable housing, said Levy, Adam’s deputy mayor for communications.
“Irresponsible actions like these demonstrate the importance of Mayor Adams’ efforts to modernize the housing approval process through the ballot measures that passed this November,” Levy said.
Worker protection
Council members also bucked Uber and Lyft by passing a worker protection bill requiring rideshare companies to give drivers 14 days’ advance notice before they’re deactivated in the system.
Currently, drivers can be deactivated immediately on the app.
The bill has an exemption for egregious circumstances like physical abuse and sexual assault.
The council also expanded caps on street vendor permits, giving 10,500 new general vending licenses in 2027.
Lawmakers also approved an effective $40 an hour minimum wage — combining wage and essential benefits — for construction workers on city-funded projects.
Sanctuary city
A Democratic Socialists of America-backed sanctuary city bill bucking President Trump’s immigration crackdown passed 39-9.
The “Safer Sanctuary Act” by lefty Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán blocks ICE from opening offices on Rikers Island and amends sanctuary laws to make clear they apply no matter the federal agency doing immigration enforcement.
“This is a much needed update to NY sanctuary city laws, and the first major piece of immigration legislation to be passed by the NYC Council during the second Trump administration,” the DSA’s New York City chapter crowed in a post on X.
