At a New York City Council meeting today, Minority Leader Joann Ariola continued her efforts to bring accountability and transparency to the government decisions and actions taken during the COVID-19 emergency. Ariola introduced new legislation that would “require New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) to publish after action reports following every emergency declaration that impacts the City.”
Introduction 1300 calls for a detailed analysis of government operations during an emergency. The legislation would require reporting on emergencies declared during the decade preceding its enactment, which includes the COVID emergency.
Full text of the introduction:
Int. No. 1300
By Council Member Ariola
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to after action reports following emergency declarations
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Title 30 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 30-117 to read as follows:
§ 30-117 Emergency after action reports. a. Definitions. For the purposes of this local law, the following terms have the following meanings:
After action report. The term “after action report” means a report that provides detailed analysis of government operations before, during and following a specific emergency declaration, and contains recommendations for adjustments to agency operations during subsequent emergency declarations as appropriate.
Emergency declaration. The term “emergency declaration” means any state of emergency declared by the mayor or any state disaster emergency declared by the governor that include any part of city of New York.
b. Within 6 months of the expiration of any emergency declaration that applies to the city, the office, in consultation with any agency or office that served a role in the city’s response to such emergency, shall publish an after action report on its website. Such after action report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information: 1. a description of the emergency declaration, how the city was impacted, and an accounting of all agency actions taken in response to the emergency declaration; 2. a comparison of what occurred in response to the emergency declaration to any established emergency plans or protocols, including identifying gaps, overlaps and conflicts within agency operations; 3. an assessment of participating agency performance in responding to the emergency declaration, including evaluating agency capabilities and operations; and 4. recommendations for any steps that can be taken to increase preparedness and response to similar future emergency declarations.
§ 2. The office shall publish on its website an after action report for all emergency declarations, as such terms are defined in section 30-117 of the administrative code of the city of New York, that occurred during the 10 years prior to the enactment of this local law.
§3. This local law takes effect immediately upon enactment.
Council Member Ariola has also pursued a public accounting through a summary inquiry petition that is currently awaiting a decision by an appeals court judge, and has advocated for the reinstatement of workers who lost their jobs under the City’s vaccine mandates. Ariola spoke with me last month about her efforts:
On another COVID-emergency-related note, Council Member Julie Menin introduced legislation at today’s meeting to limit emergency contracts to 30 days unless renewed by the Comptroller or Corporation Counsel, as well as to require the Comptroller to review each emergency contract. Menin noted that COVID-era Mayor Bill de Blasio spent $7 billion on no-bid contracts during the declared emergency.
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