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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Steven Dunn, Senior Staff Attorney at Community Service Society of New York (CSS)
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Steven Dunn, a senior staff attorney at Community Service Society of New York (CSS), testified in support of increasing funding for the Commission on Civil and Human Rights (CCHR) to $21 million. He emphasized the importance of CCHR in protecting the rights of low-income New Yorkers, particularly those with conviction records, and its ability to effect change more quickly than the court system.
- Dunn highlighted CCHR's unique capabilities, including awarding monetary damages, assessing civil penalties, mandating policy changes, and issuing policy guidance.
- He stressed the importance of CCHR in protecting the rights of 817,000 NYC residents with conviction records, linking this to efforts to reduce recidivism.
- Dunn called for exempting CCHR's law enforcement bureau from OMB cuts and for continued council oversight of hiring practices at CCHR.
Stephen Dunn
3:46:48
afternoon.
3:46:49
My name Steven Dunn.
3:46:50
I'm a senior staff attorney at CSS.
3:46:52
So I work in the legal department so we're coming to the ask for an increased CCHR from a slightly different angle.
3:46:58
Okay?
3:46:59
Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify here today.
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Over its one hundred and eighty years CSS has powered a more equitable New York with a unique combination of research, policy advocacy, and direct services to support low and moderate income people who are the main beneficiaries of an effective CCHR.
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With a robust and predictable budget, CCHR can effectively enforce the rights of the low income New Yorkers we both serve.
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It can move faster than the court system and but award the same monetary damages.
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It can also assess civil penalties which go directly to the city's general fund and it can mandate policy changes and remedial actions that are difficult to achieve in court.
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Finally, it can issue policy guidance and make rules that can change industry practice without filing any complaints at all.
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The work that I do is I work exclusively with folks with conviction records and so the commission is vital to protecting the rights of the 817,000 New York City residents with conviction records.
3:47:55
Protecting against discrimination employment and in housing is how we all work to drive down recidivism.
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And so, you know, we're here to echo the calls that have been made by others to, you know, increase the funding to CCHR to 21,000,000.
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This level of funding should be ongoing to both rebuild capacity and to plan for the future.
3:48:16
You know, as the commissioner stated, they can do more with more.
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Increased funding is not all though.
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I mean, we also believe that the law enforcement bureau, because it is revenue generating, should be exempt from OMB cuts and the council should continue oversight of the way OMB makes it difficult to hire people willing to accept below market wages to work at CCHR.
3:48:40
And so I'll just end by noting that with robots rollbacks to worker and civil rights protections across the federal government, it is more important than ever that New York City maintains an effective commission on human rights.
3:48:51
Thank you very much for your time.