Advocates aim to undo NYC budget cuts for discrimination law enforcement

Published Mar 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. ET

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Published Mar 18, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. ET

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Mayor Eric Adams’ administration wants to cut funding and staffing for the commission charged with enforcing New York City’s robust anti-discrimination laws — but members of the City Council and others are looking to shore up the agency as complainants wait months for their cases to be heard.

The mayor's preliminary budget proposal for next fiscal year sets the Commission on Human Rights' total funding at $13.7 million, $407,000 less than what the Council and Adams approved last spring for the current fiscal year. The legislature is currently considering Adams' latest spending plan.

Many councilmembers and social justice advocates are looking to boost the commission's funding by at least $3 million. They argue that it has been hamstrung by a lack of staff, with just 25 enforcement attorneys today, down from 61 in 2018.

It can take months to get an appointment with commission staff, and fewer complaints are being filed, according to agency officials and data from the mayor's office. Meanwhile, the Council has continued to expand the range of anti-discrimination laws the commission is charged with enforcing.

“The commission is in crisis,” Rebekah Cook-Mack, staff attorney at the nonprofit Legal Aid Society’s Employment Law Unit, told councilmembers at a budget hearing on Friday. “Just a handful of attorneys cannot be expected to enforce the strongest human rights law in the county.”

Agency officials who testified at the hearing disputed the contention that the commission was underfunded, presenting data indicating it was acting with greater efficiency.

The proposed funding cut comes as Adams has reversed budget cuts for a host of agencies, citing better-than-projected tax revenues and forecasts. Still, the administration maintains that more savings are needed to address fiscal challenges ahead.

The city's Human Rights Law was passed in 1965 and is more comprehensive than federal and many states' discrimination protections. It bars discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, based on a wide range of categories, including race, gender, immigration status, caregiver status and gender identity. The law has been amended dozens of times and includes over 25 protected classes.

Critics of the mayor’s plan say the commission is vital for ensuring equity in housing and employment, particularly for low-income New Yorkers of color. They point to the agency’s tiny share — about .01% — of the city's multibillion-dollar budget.

A group of elected officials and advocacy groups rallied outside City Hall before the hearing on Friday to call for the commission to receive more funding and a return to pre-pandemic staffing.

The number of complaints filed at the commission dropped from more than 800 in fiscal year 2018 to 340 in fiscal year 2023, according to a letter advocates sent to Adams earlier this week. Meanwhile, the commission received a record-high 12,190 inquiries in the last fiscal year, the most recent preliminary Mayor’s Management Report shows.

Advocates say more funding and staff are especially needed to enforce the Fair Chance for Housing Act, set to take effect at the start of next year. It bans housing discrimination on the basis of someone’s arrest and criminal history.

During the hearing, commission leaders told councilmembers that the agency was doing just fine.

“No matter what the number of staff that we have, we continue to address the investigations that we have to do and take cases to litigation,” said Sapna Raj, deputy commissioner of the agency's law enforcement division.

Even with fewer attorneys, she said, the commission has more cases in litigation and the city's administrative courts than ever before in the last decade. The commission also collected more money in legal damages — up from $3.8 million in fiscal year 2018 to more than $8 million in fiscal year 2021 — before the number fell to $4.7 million in the last fiscal year, according to Mayor’s Management Reports.

Agency officials said the current typical wait time for an appointment with one of its lawyers, around three-and-a-half months, actually reflects a decline. Raj added that the commission works to resolve issues without having to file legal complaints, which can take months or years to resolve.

More cases are being resolved without legal action, including 347 in the last fiscal year, compared to 214 in fiscal year 2021, city data shows. “We are not understaffed at this point,” Raj said. “Because we are the most robust we have been ever.”

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Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: asundaram@nypublicradio.org or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.

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