In Mayor Eric Adams' words: Promises made, promises kept.

Following through on its threats, the City Council voted to override the mayor’s veto of the “How Many Stops Act” and a bill banning solitary confinement in city jails on Tuesday.

City councilmembers have argued the police reporting bill adds transparency and accountability to the NYPD.

What You Need To Know

  • The City Council overrode Mayor Eric Adams' vetoes of the "How Many Stops Act" and a bill banning solitary confinement in city jails in a vote of 42 to 9

  • The "How Many Stops Act" looks to collect police stop data, including the age, race, gender, precinct the stop took place in and the reason for the stop

  • The veto overrides mark a potential end to a weeks-long battle between the mayor and the City Council over public safety

“The need for basic transparency is clear Black and Latino New Yorkers continue to be disproportionately subject to unconstitutional stops that go under reported,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said.

Local lawmakers also said that banning solitary confinement is about improving conditions on the notorious jails complex on Rikers Island.

“Solitary confinement is torture. It causes people to physically and mentally deteriorate and exacerbate violence,” Councilwoman Shahana Hanif said.

The final vote on the overrides was 42 to 9. The City Council only needed 34 votes. Two additional votes that went against the mayor this time were Councilmembers Erik Bottcher and Linda Lee.

After the vote, some councilmembers started clapping and cheering, while others embraced each other.

Today’s vote marks a potential ending to a political back-and-forth with the mayor, particularly over the “How Many Stops Act” that will require police officers to document most of their investigative stops.

Police currently have to document Level 3 “investigative stop.” The legislation will add lesser Level 1 and Level 2 to the requirement.

“No, there is no power struggle here. We’re just going to have to work harder at collaboration between co-equal sides of co-equal branches in the City of New York,” the council speaker said earlier in the day in relation to the power struggle at City Hall.

“Let’s make sure as councilmembers as legislators that we keep a close eye on implementation and should any challenges arise that we work together for any amendments,” Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks said.

The mayor and other critics have argued the bill will burden police officers with administrative work and could impact response times.

“The war on police continues. They’ve done everything possible to actually discourage anyone from looking at a career in policing because they have made the job ten times tougher,” said Councilman Robert Holden, who voted against the bill.  

The mayor had been on a public campaign in recent weeks to change councilmembers’ sentiment toward the legislation, even staging a police ride-along on Saturday.

The move seems to have backfired. No votes were changed, but some lawmakers see room for making sure the new law is implemented appropriately.

“I’m sympathetic to any concerns about administrative burdens. I went on the Mayor’s ride along this Saturday night and the officers were sharing with us all of the paperwork that they had to do. And one of the officers said in some instances we fill out one, two, three documents for a single incident,” Councilman Eric Dinowitz said amid the vote.  

The legislation has a six-month implementation window before it takes effect.

The data the legislation looks to collect will include the age, race, gender, precinct the stop took place in and the reason for the stop.