The State & Federal Legislation Committee of the New York City Council is holding a massive one-day hearing on the New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission’s final report for the Congestion Tax on Monday, March 24th at 10 AM and again at 6 PM in the City Council Chambers.
They must hold the hearing on the report alone because the State has thus far failed to introduce any congestion pricing legislation, despite the fast approaching March 31st deadline.
This committee will be responsible for recommending to the full Council whether or not a home rule message should be authorized for the State Legislature to pass the Congestion Tax. If there are any rules for the public about participation, though it seems open to all, I’ll post it on the website. The next full meeting of the Council, during which it can pass that home rule message, is Wednesday, March 26th. This is clearly part of a last-minute push to pass the Tax before the deadline.
There is some controversy about that deadline. The Urban Partnership Agreement signed by former Governor Spitzer in August of last year gave the State Legislature 90 days from its first day in session to adopt the Tax in order to get the $354 million incentive from the Federal government. That deadline is April 7th. The State Government gave itself a deadline of March 31st. Technically, it seems that the State Legislature can adopt Congestion Tax legislation that also repeals its own deadline so it has until April 7th to pass the Tax. However, we must tell our legislators, City and State, not to break that promise and allow the March 31st deadline come to pass with or, hopefully, without a Congestion Tax.