← All bills

Int 1389-2025

Requiring the Law Department to report on its involvement in legal actions in which a current or former City employee is a party.

IntroductionFiledCommittee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislationintroduced 2025-09-10

Filed — closed without being enacted.

Official record · Legistar

Agenda: 2025-09-10Passed: 2025-12-31

Summary

This bill would require the Law Department, in coordination with the Comptroller, to publish a report twice annually that describes legal actions in which the Law Department is involved in the direct representation of, or contracting of representation for, former or current City employees. Such report would include the former or current City employee’s name, the status of their case, the hours and expenditures spent on such employee’s legal representation, and the amount of money for which the case was settled or decided.

Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal LegislationMunicipal governmental structure and organization, Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, Community Boards, Tax Commission, Board of Standards and Appeals, Campaign Finance Board, Board of Elections, Voter Assistance Commission, Commission on Public Information and Communication, Department of Records and Information Services, Financial Information Services Agency, Law Department, Federal legislation, State legislation and Home Rule requests.

How it compares

20% of similar bills passed

10 passed · 40 died

This bill: 111 days in committee

Similar bills: median 363 days · 120 days when passed

Sponsors (3)

Lifecycle

IntroducedIntroduced by Council
2025-09-10 · City Council
ActionReferred to Comm by Council
2025-09-10 · City Council
ClosedFiled (End of Session)
2025-12-31 · City Council

Heard at (1)

City Council · 2025-09-10 · 1:30 PM · Council Chambers - City Hall

Attachments (4)

Full text
Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 7 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 7-115 to read as follows: � 7-115 Reporting on law department involvement in legal actions. a. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings: City employee. The term "city employee" means any person: (1) who is employed by a department or agency of the city; (2) is paid out of the city treasury; and (3) is employed under terms prescribing a work week regularly consisting of twenty or more hours during the fiscal year. External counsel. The term "external counsel" means any attorney, firm, or legal consultants who represent, perform legal services, or provide legal counsel. b. Reporting. No later than January 31, 2026 and no later than each July 31 and January 31 thereafter, the law department, in coordination with the comptroller, shall draft and post on its website in a searchable and machine-readable format, and provide notice of such posting to the mayor, the speaker of the council, and the head of each agency, a report containing the following information regarding civil actions or criminal proceedings in which a former or current city employee is a party and in which the law department is involved in the city employee's representation, with the reported information to be disaggregated by each case in which the law department is involved: 1. the name of the current or former city employee named in the legal action; 2. the status of such current or former city employee's case; 3. in the event that the law department is directly representing such current or former city employee, the hours being spent on the case and the expenditures for the case; 4. in the event that the law department elected to contract with external counsel to represent such current or former city employee, the external counsel being retained, the expenditures being paid to external counsel, and the department's rationale to outsource legal counsel in the case; 5. in the event the case has settled, the settlement amount; and 6. in the event the case has been decided, the judgment amount. c. Scope of report. The report shall cover all legal actions filed in the five-year period preceding the report in which a current or former city employee was a party to, and in which the law department was involved. d. Applicability of other laws. Nothing in this section shall be construed to diminish or supersede any other applicable city, state, or federal regulation including, but not limited to, the conditions, procedures, and limitations contained in section fifty-k of the general municipal law, section 50 of the general municipal law, section 50-b of the civil rights law, section 50-c of the civil rights law, and chapter 12 of title 23 of the administrative code of the city of New York. � 2. This local law takes effect immediately. 1. RO LS #18614 8/8/2025, 2:45 PM 2 1