Int. No. 1225
By Council Members Menin, Avilés, Dinowitz, Feliz, Brooks-Powers, Banks, Louis, Schulman, Abreu, Cabán, Gennaro and Zhuang
A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to establishing an office of the census
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of the charter of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 20-r to read as follows:
§ 20-r. Office of the census. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Director. The term “director” means the director of the office.
Office. The term “office” means the office of the census.
Regional office. The term “regional office” means the New York regional office of the United States census bureau.
b. Establishment of office. The mayor shall establish an office of the census. The office may be established as a standalone office or within any office of the mayor or within any department. The office shall be headed by a director, who shall be appointed by the mayor or, if the office is established within an agency other than the office of the mayor, by the head of such agency.
c. Term. The mayor or such agency head as authorized by subdivision b of this section shall appoint a director no earlier than 2 years and 6 months before, and no later than 2 years before, each federal decennial census. The director's term shall end no later than 6 months after the United States census bureau ceases data collection field operations for the federal decennial census. The office shall conduct its business only during the director’s term.
d. Powers and duties. The director shall have the power and duty to:
1. To the extent requested or permitted by the regional office, serve as the primary liaison between the city and the regional office and collaborate with the regional office to encourage full participation by all city residents in completing the federal decennial census;
2. Identify hard to count areas, hard to count populations, and community leaders in such areas and populations by working with the department of city planning, mayor’s community affairs unit, mayor’s office of immigrant affairs, the mayor’s office of people with disabilities, the New York city housing authority and the New York city commission on human rights, and any other relevant agency;
3. Create and carry out a multilingual public awareness campaign designed to raise awareness of the federal decennial census in hard to count areas and hard to count populations; and
4. Work with leaders from all sectors across the city, such as businesses, cultural and education institutions, religious and social organizations, community based organizations, labor unions, and disability advocacy groups, to develop and implement plans to promote awareness of the federal decennial census.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.
LH
LS #16369
02/13/2025