Committee on Civil and Human Rights

This bill would prohibit the adoption and enforcement of restrictions that prevent residents from displaying religious items on the entry door or doorframe of their home. There would be exceptions to allow restrictions on certain religious items, such as those that pose a safety risk, obstruct the door, or need to be temporarily removed to allow for maintenance or repair.

This bill would reaffirm the intent of the Council to liberally construe the city human rights law and clarify the interpretation of specific sections of the law as they pertain to punitive damages, mistakenly perceived alcoholism, municipal immunity, individual liability, and the nexus between an unlawful discriminatory practice and the city.

This bill would amend the definitions of harassment in the Housing Maintenance Code to include source of income discrimination as a form of harassment, such that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development would not be permitted to issue a Certification of No Harassment to a property owner, unless the department concludes there has been no source of income discrimination by such property owner in the relevant statutory period.

This bill would protect non-traditional families and relationships by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “family or relationship structure” in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

This bill would set minimum appropriations available to pay for certain expenses of the equal employment practices commission and the commission on civil and human rights.

This bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived poverty in relation to opportunities of employment and access to public accommodations.

This bill would require the New York City Commission on Human Rights to issue quarterly reports regarding source of income discrimination complaints it has received, initiated, and resolved the previous quarter as well as unresolved complaints received or initiated prior to the previous quarter and the status of such complaints.

Under current city law property owners or their agents are required to disclose whether they will obtain a tenant screening report that may report on a prospective tenant’s credit, criminal record, history in housing court, or other factors. If the applicant is denied, the landlord or agent must disclose that the denial was based on such a report and instruct the applicant on how to obtain a copy of the report. This bill would require the landlord or agent to also provide applicants with the criteria they use to reject applicants based on the tenant screening reports.

This bill would require the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to report on cases that were referred to the CCRB, but were deemed outside its jurisdiction. The bill would require that the CCRB report to the mayor and council information pertaining to cases outside their jurisdiction, including information on the type of allegation, borough of occurrence, precinct of occurrence, the reason that the incident is deemed outside the CCRB’s jurisdiction, the number of referrals made by CCRB to external agencies, and the types of agencies referred to. The NYPD would be required to report on how many and what types of cases are referred to them, the disposition of these referrals, and how long it took for a final disposition to occur. The NYPD would also be required to contact the complainant via mail or email, and would provide them a reference number and contact information to allow the complainant to follow-up on the status of their case.

This bill would require the City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) to impose civil penalties for acts of discrimination based on lawful source of income for housing accommodations. Where CCHR finds such a discriminatory practice, in a multiple dwelling with 1 to 100 units the civil penalty would be $5,000 to $125,000, in a multiple dwelling with 101 to 500 units the civil penalty would be $50,000 to $125,000, and in a multiple dwelling with more than 500 units the civil penalty would be $75,000 to $125,000. Where CCHR finds that such a discriminatory practice results from a willful, wanton or malicious act, in a multiple dwelling with 1 to 100 units the civil penalty would be $10,000 to $250,000, in a multiple dwelling with 101 to 500 units, the civil penalty would be $100,000 to $250,000, and in a multiple dwelling with more than 500 units the civil penalty would be $150,000 to $250,000.