This Tuesday, the New York City Council opted to override Mayor Eric Adams’s veto of two key pieces of legislation centered around criminal justice reform. The vote was 42 to 9.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and lead bill sponsor Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, along with other elected officials and community groups, held a rally for the How Many Stops Act (HMSA) ahead of the Council’s vote at City Hall on Jan 30.
“Simply put, the origin of this bill is feedback from communities and families most affected,” said Speaker Adams at the rally. “Our mothers, our fathers, our daughters, our sons– who were stopped.”
The Council passed two bills in December 2023: one to ban the use of solitary confinement in city jails and one to enact the HMSA, which would require the NYPD to publicly report on all police-civilian Level I investigative stops. On January 19, Adams announced his official veto of HMSA and the solitary confinement ban.
One of the sticking points in the Council’s argument is that statistically Black and nrown New Yorkers are still disproportionately stopped, searched, and/or arrested by police despite making up less than half the city’s population, according to recent data gathered by New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and a federal court appointed monitor report. Speaker Adams again drilled down that the bill centers on “investigative stops” not casual ones.
“There is so much discretion and confusion within the NYPD, potentially not out of malintent, but there is a lot of discretion and the best way to begin to get at this so that we see the scale and scope of what is happening so we can make better decisions as a city is to get a uniform report,” said bill co-sponsor Councilmember Alexa Aviles. “We need this data so that we can do a better job. This is a first step in tackling a very persistent pernicious situation that has been transpiring across New York City.”
The HMSA veto, coupled with the solitary confinement ban veto, was overridden with 49 votes in the affirmative and nine negative in a city council stated meeting later that day. Among those that voted no were Councilmembers Joann Ariola, Robert Holden, Joseph Borelli, and Kalman Yeger.
“We didn’t make this a race thing, this is a race thing,” said Councilmember Kevin Riley explaining his personal experience during his vote. “This is what we have to deal with on a daily basis, and I’m speaking to you as a Black man who still has to deal with this on a daily basis.”
During his usual in-person meeting on Tuesday mornings, Adams spoke in-depth about the ride-alongs with city councilmembers over this past weekend. He played a brief video showing members in body armor shadowing officers on emergency calls. One call involved a robbery suspect, said Adams.
Councilmember Yusef Salaam, who was stopped by police last week for dark tints and out of state plates, opted out of the ride alongs and voted yes to the override. Adams considered the “interaction” between Salaam and the officer an example of a successful de-escalation that was properly documented. “Car stops are one of the most dangerous jobs a police officer can go on, and being stopped by the police is one of the most stressful—to see those lights in the back. When I was a police officer and those lights came on in the back,” said Adams about his experience, “my heart really started going.”
Admittedly, Adams said he wished they had done ride-alongs with the council members earlier in the discussion about the legislation. “There are passions on both sides of this issue,” said Adams, “and people believe that what they are calling for is not in place already.”
He emphasized that the term “police stops” evokes a lot of emotion, especially among Black and brown people who lived through the heyday of stop and frisk in the Bloomberg-era. He categorized the types of stops described in the bill as interactions or encounters instead, which has been a persistent point of confusion and contention for the city council and the public.
This is also not the first time Adams, a former cop, and the more left-leaning City Council have had a contentious veto/override situation.
Last July, City Council also chose to override the Mayor’s City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) bills veto with a majority vote of 42–8. The bills included removing shelter stay as a precondition to eligibility for CityFHEPS, giving people the ability to demonstrate risk of eviction by presenting a rent demand letter, and changing the eligibility for vouchers from 200% of the federal poverty level to 50% of the area median income. The argument over the bills stemmed from the ongoing asylum seeker crisis and other compounded housing issues that put a substantial strain on the city’s resources and lower-income individuals and families.
Adams is already encouraging the city council to “amend” the bills in the next few months prior to implementation.
“I have always believed that public safety and justice go hand in hand, and I have fought for both throughout my entire career. I share the City Council’s goal of increasing transparency in government, and our administration has remained at the table to negotiate in good faith throughout this entire process to achieve that mission. But the answer is not to compromise public safety or justice for the victims of violence,” said Adams in a statement released later that evening after the override vote. “With these bills set to become law, I remain willing to partner with my colleagues in the City Council to address New Yorkers’ concerns in the period leading up to implementation.”
Speaker Adams and Williams said that they aren’t interested in amendments but have always been open to working with the NYPD on how to best implement the bills.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.