Proposed law would let City Council remove NYC mayor

The push to rein in the mayor of New York City has returned to the statehouse just as state budget negotiations have hit a lull. State Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assembly Member Harvey Epstein are introducing a bill that would allow the New York City Council to remove the mayor of New York City, currently Eric Adams, with a three-quarters vote. 

Adams faced calls to resign after federal prosecutors brought corruption charges against him and top officials resigned from his administration (sometimes after being raided by the FBI). Although Trump appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice later ordered prosecutors to  dropp their case against Adams, the top federal prosecutor in New York City resigned in protest and accused Adams of forming a quid pro quo agreement with the federal government. 

Onlookers argued that Adams was doing Trump’s bidding, and this escalated to calls for Gov. Kathy Hochul to use her power under the state constitution to remove him. She instead opted for a proposal to introduce guardrails for the mayor's functions, though the idea never gained traction in the state Legislature, and many were resigned to the idea that Adams would play out the rest of his term even as his political prospects as a Democrat dried up. 

Brisport and Epstein have been cooking up the legislation since March, and with budget negotiations still dragging on, they decided to kick off May with a substantial change to how city lawmakers can address what they may view as the mayor’s fundamental inability to govern. 

Brisport said that New York City residents are living in “unprecedented times,” and the fact that the mayor can only be removed by the governor (or by an inability committee, which has never been convened), rather than the City Council, leaves local government without its necessary power.

“I knock on wood that New York City is never in this position again, but we might be,” he told City & State. “We have another corrupt person running for New York City (mayor) and who's currently leading in the polls, and this is important for any time there is a situation where a mayor is acting egregiously, and there needs to be a consequence.”

The legislation wouldn’t eliminate Hochul or any future governor’s ability to remove a mayor, just add to the City Council’s authority. The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment. 

Fear that the bill could be abused for political purposes didn’t bother Epstein, himself running for City Council, because of the high threshold needed to remove an elected mayor. As written, the bill requires a supermajority of 39 council members to vote to remove the mayor, in a process that Epstein said is closer to impeachment than to a kangaroo court. “The council shall have power to remove the mayor from office, upon charges and after service upon such mayor of a copy of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in such mayor’s defense, by an affirmative vote of three quarters of all the council members,” reads a draft version of the bill. The council could also suspend the mayor immediately for up to 30 days and install the New York City public advocate pending charges following a vote. 

“Those people (council members) are duly elected and should have the power to make those determinations, and that person, the mayor, will have their due process protections, of course, but they should have the power to make that determination,” he said. “It's not to be cynical about it to be determining that why should the city be treated any differently than the federal or than the state government?”

At least four City Council members have already called for Adams' removal from office, while others have called for him to resign but stopped short of saying he should be removed. Adams is currently seeking reelection to a second term as mayor, but given his polling and fundraising woes, has opted to run as an independent rather than seek the Democratic nomination. Barring a truly shocking turn of events, his time in Gracie Mansion will end on Dec. 31, 2025. Given the political realities in New York City, the drastic step of removing a sitting mayor months before an election is likely unnecessary, but concerns around the Trump administration’s plans for New York, as well as Adams' ability to stymie them, are adding to a sense of urgency. 

New York City Council Member Gale Brewer is pursuing a City Council resolution in support of the bill, even if she doesn’t wish for a world where the council is removing the mayor. “I don't like the idea of it at all, because I want mayors to do well,” Brewer said. “So I hope not, but I do think if it ever comes to it, it should be done locally and not in Albany.” 

Epstein, who declined to say whether he would vote to remove Adams if he were in the City Council, said that the issue goes beyond the current mayor and is more about local control.

Unsurprisingly, the Adams administration opposes the legislation, arguing that it shortchanges voters by denying them the final say – although Epstein said that since council members are elected officials, voters would still have their voices heard.  

“As if their records weren’t dangerous enough, Jabari Brisport and Harvey Epstein are smacking democracy in the face and making it abundantly clear that they do not care at all about the will of the voters,” Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said in a statement. “The nearly 8.5 million New Yorkers who call this city home are the only people who should ever be able to decide who their mayor is, and Jabari and Harvey should be ashamed for trying to usurp the will of the people.”