REMARKS
Concerns about attacks on democratic governance and the charter revision commission
0:13:16
·
5 min
Speaker Adrienne E. Adams expresses serious concerns about recent developments in the city's governance, focusing on attacks against the rule of law and a rushed charter revision commission. She emphasizes the importance of an independent legislative branch and criticizes the lack of transparency in the commission's process.
- The speaker highlights the erosion of democratic norms and separation of powers
- She criticizes the abuse of emergency declarations to disregard laws passed by the legislative branch
- The charter revision commission is described as rushed and lacking proper public input and scrutiny
Adrienne E. Adams
0:13:16
Now I'd like to take a minute to discuss some troubling recent developments in our city.
0:13:23
Respect for the laws, democratic governance, and the separation of powers is the foundation of representative democracy that underpins our city's local government.
0:13:36
When these norms are eroded, the result is a weakened democracy.
0:13:42
The effect is a government that is less responsive to those it represents and the lowering of safeguards that protect the public interest.
0:13:52
Over the past months, we've seen attacks against the rule of law with unprecedented disregard for laws passed by the independent legislative branch abusing the power to declare a state of emergency.
0:14:09
We've seen a rushed charter revision commission that circumvented the public transparency, feedback, and scrutiny of the legislative process to advance certain changes to law that do not require a charter revision commission or voter referendum.
0:14:28
An independent and separate legislative branch of government is essential to hold the executive branch accountable.
0:14:37
As the city's legislature, The city council changes laws through a robust, open legislative process where the public can provide input and testify.
0:14:51
On average, A public safety bill goes from introduction to passage in 292 days, and all other bills take 280 days.
0:15:05
In that process, we hear from all stakeholders including the executive branch and its relevant agencies, advocates working on the issues and members of the public.
0:15:17
This is how we craft thoughtful and meaningful legislation that improves the lives of New Yorkers by ensuring city agencies meet their needs.
0:15:27
It is ironic and it amends hypocrisy that the commission in accurately claim deficiencies in the legislative process to justify its actions when it failed to come anywhere close to meeting the baseline expectations of the council's process.
0:15:48
The commission existed for less than 60 days and released concrete proposals less than 2 days before voting on them with absolutely no opportunity for public testimony on them.
0:16:03
In fact, it even amended those proposals just hours before its final vote with no public notice or explanation of its changes until minutes before voting.
0:16:18
The commission claimed these changes were the product of being responsive to feedback, but the reality is they occurred after learning of the threat of lawsuits to reduce their risk of legal exposure.
0:16:32
At the same time, other changes proposed by the commission have sought to give the executive branch unprecedented control over the legislative branch's process, centralizing more power within the executive branch by giving it control over the independent legislative branch's process sets a dangerous precedent.
0:16:56
It would leave the government less responsive to New York and have long term implications for the functioning of our city that go beyond this current administration and council.
0:17:07
This isn't about a disagreement between this mayor and council, and it's no longer about advice and consent.
0:17:14
This is about our local democracy and whether we have a government that is accountable to the people of our city.
0:17:24
This is tantamount to mayoral control over the duly elected legislative branch of New York City government.
0:17:35
We've also seen independent oversight agencies become the target of attacks, whether it is those responsible for civilian complaints of police abuse or campaign finance.
0:17:46
This disregard of democratic governance and processes cannot be normalized.
0:17:53
The strength of our city Our government and our democracy relies on upholding these principles that safeguard public confidence and trust in our institutions.
0:18:05
It is important for all of us not to lose sight of this by minimizing these circumstances as routine to the political process because it is not and should not be unless we're okay with losing the strength of our democracy.
