By Alex Robinson
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) named three Queens Council members to her new Policy Working Group last week.
Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), as well as Councilmen Peter Koo (D-Flushing) and I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans), will join 10 other members on the new panel, a group that will vet bills and was created in the hope of making the Council’s legislative process more democratic, the speaker’s office said.
“Our goal from Day 1 has been to open up the Council and to make it more accessible to everyone, and that’s just what this Policy Working Group will do,” Mark-Viverito said. “I look forward to helping build consensus on our shared priorities for New York City.”
The speaker’s office said the new group will work to gain consensus on priority bills and will offer a chance for members to collaborate to help set the agenda.
“Through this transformative Policy Working Group, the New York City Council will help usher in a more transparent legislative process, which promises to advocate for public policy initiatives that will improve the lives of all New Yorkers,” Van Bramer said.
The working group will also provide Council members with a way of petitioning the speaker to get their bills passed, Koo’s office said.
Council members will not be required to go through the working group to get their bills through committee or up for a vote.
The group’s members will convene twice a month and their meetings will not be public.
“This group will allow for a new, more inclusive process for members representing diverse constituencies to help steer the direction of policy in the City Council,” Miller said.
Of the three Queens councilmen appointed to the working group, Koo is the only one who sided with Mark-Viverito’s opponent during the speaker’s race.
Koo’s office said his appointment to the working group is a sign of his growing legislative clout on the Council.
“This group is being empowered to review, prioritize and build consensus on legislation in the City Council as well as identify and build support for policy initiatives,” Koo said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues and to bringing my expertise and ideas to the group.”
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
