New York City Council
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Adrienne Adams (D) since January 5, 2022
Deputy Speaker	Diana Ayala (D) since January 5, 2022
Majority Leader	Amanda Farías (D) since January 3, 2024
Minority Leader	Joe Borelli (R) since November 17, 2021
Majority Whip	Selvena Brooks-Powers (D) since January 5, 2022
Minority Whip	Inna Vernikov (R) since January 5, 2022
Structure
Seats	51
Political groups	Majority (45)   Democratic (45) Minority (6)   Republican (6)
Committees	See standing committees
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post (general elections) Ranked-choice voting (primary and special elections)
Last election	November 7, 2023
Next election	November 4, 2025
Meeting place
New York City Hall
Website
Official website

The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.

The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of city agencies' land use decisions, and legislating on a variety of other issues. It also has sole responsibility for approving the city budget. Members elected are limited to two consecutive four-year terms in office but may run again after a four-year respite.

The head of the city council is called the speaker. The current speaker is Adrienne Adams, a Democrat from the 28th district in Queens. The speaker sets the agenda and presides at city council meetings, and all proposed legislation is submitted through the Speaker's Office. Majority Leader Amanda Farías leads the chamber's Democratic majority. Minority Leader Joe Borelli leads the six Republican council members.

As of 2022, the council has 38 standing committees and 4 subcommittees, with oversight of various functions of the city government. Each council member sits on at least three standing, select or subcommittees (listed below).^[1] The standing committees meet at least once per month. The speaker of the council, the majority leader, and the minority leader are all ex officio members of every committee.

Council members are elected every four years. The exception is two consecutive two-year terms every twenty years to allow for redistricting after each national census (starting in 2001 and 2003 for the 2000 census and again in 2021 and 2023 for the 2020 census).^[2]

An asterisk (*) next to the election year denotes a special election. A double asterisk (**) next to the election year means the member took office after certification to fill the remainder of an unexpired term.

District	Member	Party	Residence	Borough	Elected	Term limited	Map
1	Christopher Marte	Democratic	Lower East Side	Manhattan	2021	2029	Map
2	Carlina Rivera	Democratic	Kips Bay	Manhattan	2017	2025	Map
3	Erik Bottcher	Democratic	Chelsea	Manhattan	2021	2029	Map
4	Keith Powers	Democratic	Murray Hill	Manhattan	2017	2025	Map
5	Julie Menin	Democratic	Upper East Side	Manhattan	2021	2029	Map
6	Gale Brewer	Democratic	Upper West Side	Manhattan	2021	2029	Map
7	Shaun Abreu	Democratic	Manhattan Valley	Manhattan	2021	2029	Map
8	Diana Ayala	Democratic	East Harlem	The Bronx Manhattan	2017	2025	Map
9	Yusef Salaam	Democratic	Central Harlem	Manhattan	2023	2033	Map
10	Carmen De La Rosa	Democratic	Inwood	Manhattan	2021	2029	Map
11	Eric Dinowitz	Democratic	Riverdale	The Bronx	2021*	2029	Map
12	Kevin Riley	Democratic	Co-Op City	The Bronx	2020*	2029	Map
13	Kristy Marmorato	Republican	Morris Park	The Bronx	2023	2033	Map
14	Pierina Sanchez	Democratic	Fordham Heights	The Bronx	2021	2029	Map
15	Oswald Feliz	Democratic	Fordham	The Bronx	2021*	2029	Map
16	Althea Stevens	Democratic	Morrisania	The Bronx	2021	2029	Map
17	Rafael Salamanca	Democratic	Longwood	The Bronx	2016*	2025	Map
18	Amanda Farías	Democratic	Soundview	The Bronx	2021	2029	Map
19	Vickie Paladino	Republican	Whitestone	Queens	2021	2029	Map
20	Sandra Ung	Democratic	Flushing	Queens	2021	2029	Map
21	Francisco Moya	Democratic	Corona	Queens	2017	2025	Map
22	Tiffany Cabán	Democratic	Woodside	Queens The Bronx	2021**	2029	Map
23	Linda Lee	Democratic	Oakland Gardens	Queens	2021	2029	Map
24	James Gennaro	Democratic	Jamaica Estates	Queens	2021*	2029	Map
25	Shekar Krishnan	Democratic	Jackson Heights	Queens	2021	2029	Map
26	Julie Won	Democratic	Sunnyside	Queens	2021	2029	Map
27	Nantasha Williams	Democratic	Cambria Heights	Queens	2021	2029	Map
28	Adrienne Adams	Democratic	Jamaica	Queens	2017*	2025	Map
29	Lynn Schulman	Democratic	Forest Hills	Queens	2021	2029	Map
30	Robert Holden	Democratic[a]	Middle Village	Queens	2017	2025	Map
31	Selvena Brooks-Powers	Democratic	Rockaway Beach	Queens	2021*	2029	Map
32	Joann Ariola	Republican	Howard Beach	Queens	2021	2029	Map
33	Lincoln Restler	Democratic	Greenpoint	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
34	Jennifer Gutiérrez	Democratic	Williamsburg	Brooklyn Queens	2021	2029	Map
35	Crystal Hudson	Democratic	Prospect Heights	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
36	Chi Ossé	Democratic	Crown Heights	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
37	Sandy Nurse	Democratic	Cypress Hills	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
38	Alexa Avilés	Democratic	Sunset Park	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
39	Shahana Hanif	Democratic	Kensington	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
40	Rita Joseph	Democratic	Flatbush	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
41	Darlene Mealy	Democratic	Bedford Stuyvesant	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
42	Chris Banks	Democratic	East New York	Brooklyn	2023	2033	Map
43	Susan Zhuang	Democratic	Bensonhurst	Brooklyn	2023	2033	Map
44	Kalman Yeger	Democratic	Borough Park	Brooklyn	2017	2025	Map
45	Farah Louis	Democratic	Flatbush	Brooklyn	2019*	2029	Map
46	Mercedes Narcisse	Democratic	Canarsie	Brooklyn	2021	2029	Map
47	Justin Brannan	Democratic	Coney Island	Brooklyn	2017	2025	Map
48	Inna Vernikov	Republican	Sheepshead Bay	Brooklyn	2021**	2029	Map
49	Kamillah Hanks	Democratic	Stapleton	Staten Island	2021	2029	Map
50	David Carr	Republican	Grasmere	Staten Island Brooklyn	2021**	2029	Map
51	Joe Borelli	Republican	Annadale	Staten Island	2015*	2025	Map

Council Members currently receive $148,500 a year in base salary, which the council increased from $112,500 in early 2016.^[4] The salary raise came with new ethics guidelines and restrictions; most outside income is prohibited, and members no longer receive additional compensation for serving on committees.^[5]

The New York City Charter is the fundamental law of the government of New York City including the council. The New York City Administrative Code is the codification of the laws promulgated by the council and is composed of 29 titles.^[6][7] The regulations promulgated by city agencies pursuant to law are contained in the Rules of the City of New York in 71 titles.^[8]

A local law has a status equivalent with a law enacted by the legislature (subject to certain exceptions and restrictions), and is superior to the older forms of municipal legislation such as ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations.^[9] Each local government must designate a newspaper of notice to publish or describe its laws.^[10] The secretary of state is responsible for publishing local laws as a supplement to the Laws of New York (the "session laws" of the state), but they have not done so in recent years.^[10] The New York City Charter, the New York City Administrative Code, and the Rules of the City of New York are published online by the New York Legal Publishing Corp. under contract with the New York City Law Department.^[11]

The history of the New York City Council can be traced to Dutch Colonial times when New York City was known as New Amsterdam. On February 2, 1653, the town of New Amsterdam, founded on the southern tip of Manhattan Island in 1625, was incorporated as a city under a charter issued by the Dutch West India Company. A Council of Legislators sat as the local lawmaking body and as a court of inferior jurisdiction. During the 18th and 19th centuries the local legislature was called the Common Council and then the Board of Aldermen. In 1898 the amalgamation charter of the City of Greater New York renamed and revamped the council and added a New York City Board of Estimate with certain administrative and financial powers. After a number of changes through the ensuing years, the present Council was born in 1938 under a new charter which instituted the council as the sole legislative body and the New York City Board of Estimate as the chief administrative body. Certain functions of the council, however, remained subject to the approval of the board.

In 1938, a system of proportional representation known as single transferable vote was adopted; a fixed quota of 75,000 votes was set, so that the size of the council fluctuated with voter turnout.^[12] The term was extended to four years in 1945 to coincide with the term of the mayor. Proportional representation was abolished in 1947, largely from pressure from Democrats, who played on fears of Communist council members being elected (two already had).^[13] It was replaced by a system of electing one Council Member from each New York State Senate district within the city. The Charter also provided for the election of two Council Members-at-large from each of the five boroughs. In June 1983, however, a federal court ruled that the 10 at-large seats violated the United States Constitution's one-person, one-vote mandate.^[14]

In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that the Board of Estimate also violated the one-person, one-vote mandate. In response, the new Charter abolished the Board of Estimate and provided for the redrawing of the council district lines to increase minority representation on the council. It also increased the number of Council Members from 35 to 51. The council was then granted full power over the municipal budget, as well as authority over zoning, land use and franchises. In 1993 the New York City Council voted to rename the position of president of the city council to the Public Advocate. As the presiding officer, the Public Advocate was an ex officio member of all committees in the council, and in that capacity had the right to introduce and co-sponsor legislation.^[15] However the city charter revision of 2002 transferred the duties of presiding officer from the Public Advocate to the Council Speaker; the Public Advocate remains a non-voting member of the council.^[16]

In 2022, the composition of first female majority City Council^[17] included the first Muslim woman, the first South Asian members, and the first openly gay Black woman.^[18]

A two-term limit was imposed on city council members and citywide elected officials in a 1993 referendum. The movement to introduce term limits was led by Ronald Lauder, the heir to the Estée Lauder fortune. In 1996, voters turned down a council proposal to extend term limits. Lauder spent $4 million on the two referendums.

However, in 2008, under pressure from Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who, like many Council members, was facing the end of his two-term limit at that time), the council voted 29–22 to extend the limit to three terms; the council also defeated (by a vote of 22–28, with one abstention) a proposal to submit the issue to public referendum.^[19]

Legal challenges to the extension of term limits failed in federal court. The original decision by Judge Charles Sifton of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island) was upheld by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Vermont, Connecticut and New York), and a proposal in the New York State Legislature to override the extension was not passed.^[20][21][22]

Voters voted to reinstate the two-term limit law in another referendum in 2010.^[23] However, according to The New York Times, incumbent members of the city council who were elected prior to the 2010 referendum "will still be allowed to run for a third term. People in office before 2010 were eligible for three terms."^[24]

Through several changes in title and duties, this person has been, together with the Mayor and City Comptroller, one of the three municipal officers directly elected by all of the city's voters, and also the person who—when the elected mayor resigns, dies, or otherwise loses the ability to serve—becomes acting mayor until the next special or regular election.^[25]

Until 1989, these three officers, together with the five borough presidents, constituted the New York City Board of Estimate. Political campaigns have traditionally tried to balance their candidates for these three offices to appeal as wide a range of the city's political, geographical, social, ethnic and religious constituencies as possible (and, when possible, to both genders).

a. Became acting mayor upon the death or resignation of the elected mayor.
b. Later won election as mayor.
c. Unsuccessful candidate for mayor in a subsequent general election.
d. Not elected by citywide popular vote (Ardolph Kline had been elected deputy president by his fellow aldermen, and then succeeded as president upon Mitchel's resignation).

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2022)

• Black, Latino and Asian (BLA) Caucus
• Common-Sense Caucus
• Irish Caucus^[127]
• Italian Caucus
• Jewish Caucus
• LGBT Caucus
• Progressive Caucus
• Women's Caucus

• Government of New York City
• Mayor of New York City
• New York City Civil Court
• New York City Criminal Court
• La Guardia and Wagner Archives

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New York City Council.

• New York City Council main page
• La Guardia and Wagner Archives/The Council of the City of New York Collection Archived August 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
• David W. Chen, Council Gets a Charge From Vote on Term Limits, New York Times, New York edition, October 25, 2008, page A18, retrieved the same day. (Discusses changes in the council's degree of independence and authority in relation to the mayor's powers.)
• NYS Go
• New York Forum
• Councilpedia, a Wiki about the city council (inactive since January 2013)
• New York City Charter, the New York City Administrative Code, and the Rules of the City of New York from the New York Legal Publishing Corp.