This Week in New York – NYC Employee Background Checks, School Overcrowding, Legislation in the News, and a New Cybersecurity Initiative
NYC Employee Background Check Backlog
This week the City Council concluded its hearings on the FY19 preliminary budget and over the upcoming weeks the Council will be developing a formal response to the Mayor’s FY19 preliminary budget. The Council’s FY19 budget response will be released within the first two weeks of April, which will kick-off negotiations between the Council and the Administration that will continue until the FY19 budget is adopted on or before June 30, 2018.
Tuesday’s Committee on Oversight and Investigations preliminary budget hearing revealed that department backlog has led to the hiring of thousands of city employees without proper background checks.
DOI Commissioner Mark Peters testified that his agency ended the year with a backlog of 6,050 background investigations. The Commissioner’s testimony further revealed that 21% of background checks completed in 2017 had potentially “adverse information” that may have impacted hiring.
Legislation in the News:
Since the start of session, the City Council has introduced 787 legislative items, a few of which have received significant media coverage. At this point, most legislation has been referred to committee and awaits a hearing. We will continue to monitor this legislation and provide you with relevant updates.
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News Coverage
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Legislation
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Status
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Sponsors
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Councilman’s bill would ban smoking while walking on city sidewalks
New York Daily News
March 20
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Int. No. 734 would prohibit individuals from smoking while walking on sidewalks under the jurisdiction of the department of transportation and several locations under the jurisdiction of the department of parks and recreation.
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Referred to Committee on Health
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Council Members Koo, Chin, Diaz Sr., Kallos
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Lawmakers want to ban baloney from NYC public schools
New York Post
March 22
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Res. 0238-2018 calls upon the New York City Department of Education to ban processed meats from being served in New York City public schools.
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Referred to Committee on Education
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Council Members: Cabrera, Rosenthal, Brannan
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Proposed law giving workers the 'right to disconnect' after work draws mixed reactions
ABC News
March 27
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Int. 0726-2018 would make it unlawful for private employers in the city of New York to require employees to check and respond to email and other electronic communications during non-work hours.
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Referred to Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing
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Council Members: Espinal, Ampry-Samuel
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School Overcrowding
From Fiscal 2014-2017, the School Construction Authority has created over 35,000 pre-K seats and 117 new buildings for New York City public schools. However, the school system still suffers from overcrowding. Data reported on in the Committee on Education report reveals that elementary schools experience the most overcrowding with a 103% utilization rate.
Mayor de Blasio Announces NYC Secure, The City's First-Ever Cybersecurity Initiative to Protect New Yorkers Online
Free smart phone app to launch this summer and new security for public Wi-Fi networks deploying now.
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