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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Legislation and reporting requirements for cooling centers
0:10:39
·
50 sec
The testimony addresses the proposed legislation (Introduction 998) and existing reporting requirements for the cooling center program. The speaker notes that much of what the legislation proposes is already in action.
- Some details of the proposed legislation need further discussion with the council
- Local Law 85, passed in 2020, already codified the cooling center program under Emergency Management's administrative code
- Existing annual reporting requirements are largely duplicative of those detailed in the new legislation
- There are concerns about the survey component proposed in the new legislation due to significant costs and questionable actionable results
Christina Farrell
0:10:39
This legislation as relates to cooling centers for heat emergencies is largely already in action.
0:10:45
There are a few details as noted that we would like to discuss further with the council such as updating definitions to be consistent with those used in our plans and discussing the survey component which comes with a significant cost, yet we believe would not yield actionable results.
0:11:02
Further, in 2020, the New York City Council passed Local Law 85, which codified the cooling center program under emergency management's administrative code with the requirement that the agency submit an annual report to council detailing various components as well as publishing it on our website.
0:11:22
This report, which we are in compliance with each year, is largely duplicative to the reporting requirements detailed in this legislation.