Gotham Gazette

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CITY

Charter Commissions Since 1989


 

Mayor

Date
created/
expired*

Chair
(number of commisioners)

Ballot Proposal(s)

Voting Result

         

Rudolph Giuliani

2/19/98
11/4/98

Paul Crotty
(15)

Revamp city campaign finance law and bar corporate donations

adopted 60-40%

Giuliani

6/15/99
11/3/99

Randy Mastro
(15)

1. Impose a cap tied to the inflation rate on city budget increases.
2. Require at least half of any budget surplus be set aside for a fiscal emergency or other need determined by the mayor and City Council.
3. Require two thirds vote of the City Council to impose a new tax or increase an existing tax, and a four fifths vote of the council to override a mayoral veto of a new tax or tax increase.
4. Make the city's Human Rights Commission a permanent agency and incorporate the city's Human Rights Law into the charter.
5. Require that a special election be held within two months to fill any mayoral vacancy.
6. Make the Administration for Children's Services a permanent agency.
7. Merge the Department of Health and the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services.
8. Create an Organized Crime Control Commission to handle the regulatory, investigative and licensing functions of agencies that oversee the carting industry, public wholesale food markets and shipboard gambling.
9. Require that domestic violence services be coordinated through the Mayor's Office of Operations.
10. Make the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs a permanent agency, and incorporate laws protecting immigrants' rights into the charter.
11. Increase of small purchase limits for contracting to $100,000.
12. Authorize procurements through all government entities (federal, state, county, and municipal) without competition.
13. Authorize a centralized review of the integrity of vendors who want to do business with the city.
14. Create gun-free zones within 1,000 feet of schools.
15. Require safety-locks on guns.

rejected 76-24%

Giuliani

7/15/01
11/6/01

Randy Mastro
(15)

1. Make the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management a permanent charter agency.
2. Merge the Departments of Health and Mental Health.
3. Make the Administration for Children's Services a permanent agency.
4. Make the Human Rights Commission and the Mayor's Office of
Immigrant Affairs permanent agencies.
5. Create a gun-free school zone and other gun laws to "protect our children from violence."

all approved: Ballot Proposition #1 approved 70 to 30%; Ballot Proposition #2, passed 73 to 27%; Ballot Proposition #3 passed 55 to 45%; Ballot Proposition #4, passed 64.5 to 35.5%; Ballot Proposition #5, passed 67-33%

Michael Bloomberg

7/11/02
11/6/02

Robert McGuire
(13)

Change mayoral succession. The public advocate would be interim mayor and a special election held within 60 days

adopted 61-39%

Bloomberg

3/26/03
11/5/03

Frank Macchiarola
(13)

1. Create a new system of "non-partisan" elections for all city officials.
2. Eliminate detail city purchasing requirements
3. Set ethics rules for administrative law judges and hearing officers.

rejected 70-30%

rejected 64-36%

rejected 65-35%

Bloomberg

8/19/04
11/9/05

Esther Fuchs
(13)

1. Establish ethics rules for administrative law judges and hearing officers
2. Financial audit of city

adopted 79-21%

adopted 71-29%

* Commissions expire the day after their ballot proposal are accepted or rejected by the voters in the general election.

For an examination of the 2010 charter commission and its predescessors, see Bloomberg Moves to Change the Charter -- But How.



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