New York Assembly Bill A01027 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1027 2023-2024 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 13, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL, HEVESI, L. ROSENTHAL, BENEDETTO, COLTON, DINOWITZ, WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GLICK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Cities AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to enacting the New York city department of buildings commu- nity accountability act The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and 2 declares that the health and safety of the population living in and 3 around the many construction projects within the densely populated city 4 of New York is a matter of state concern as pressure mounts to build 5 more and more while completing projects in the shortest time possible. 6 Construction is the most dangerous occupation, with death rates four 7 times the average for other workers and conditions adjacent to 8 construction sites dangerous to the public. 9 A comprehensive public reporting system for the tracking of accidents, 10 vacate orders, safety violations, and enforcement actions of the depart- 11 ment of buildings is an essential component of assuring greater account- 12 ability and transparency in assuring compliance with the building code 13 and the zoning resolution to improve public safety. 14 § 2. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York city 15 department of buildings community accountability act". 16 § 3. Section 28-103.18.1 of the administrative code of the city of New 17 York, as amended by section 1 of part A of local law number 126 of the 18 city of New York for the year 2021, is amended to read as follows: 19 § 28-103.18.1 Complaint records. The department shall keep records of 20 complaints made by any person in reference to any building or other 21 matter under the jurisdiction of the department. Recorded complaints 22 shall include the name and residence of the complainant, the name of the 23 person complained of, the date of the entry of the complaint and any EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00504-01-3 
 A. 1027 2 1 suggested remedies. Except for entries of names and residences of the 2 complainants, such records shall be made available for public examina- 3 tion and shall be posted on the department's information website main- 4 tained by the city of New York, subject to such regulations as the 5 commissioner shall prescribe. 6 § 4. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by 7 adding a new section 28-103.18.2 to read as follows: 8 § 28-103.18.2 Records of construction and building accidents. The 9 department shall maintain a record of all construction and building 10 accidents resulting in either serious physical injury or death to 11 persons or damage to property arising out of violations of the building 12 code, including but not limited to unsafe building orders and stop work 13 orders. Such record shall be posted on the department's information 14 website maintained by the city of New York, subject to such regulations 15 as the commissioner shall prescribe. The commissioner shall cause such 16 accidents to be investigated and a written report prepared regarding the 17 circumstances of the accident. 18 § 5. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by 19 adding a new section 28-201.5 to read as follows: 20 § 28-201.5 Biannual reports to community boards and borough presi- 21 dents. The department shall, not less than biannually, provide a report 22 on department actions to each community board, for department actions 23 within such board, and to the borough presidents, for actions in the 24 borough of each borough president. The report shall show all specified 25 immediately hazardous and specified major violations, the number of such 26 violations corrected, enforcement actions commenced, and the disposition 27 of enforcement actions, within the period, separated by community board 28 and borough president. Such enforcement actions shall include court 29 actions, orders of closure, and environmental control board actions and 30 orders, including fines and penalties. The report shall further show all 31 unsafe building orders, vacate orders, and stop work orders. 32 § 6. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by 33 adding a new section 28-207.6 to read as follows: 34 § 28-207.6 Investigation and report; dangerous conditions, vacate 35 order. Whenever the department has issued an order regarding any danger- 36 ous conditions pursuant to section 28-216.4 of this chapter or any 37 vacate order, the commissioner shall cause the circumstances regarding 38 such order to be investigated, and a written report prepared. Such 39 report shall be available for public examination, and posted on the 40 department's information website maintained by the city of New York, 41 pursuant to such regulations as the commissioner may prescribe. 42 § 7. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 43 law.