Zohran Mamdani’s 3 bills

The moment stood out like a clarion bell during the first televised mayoral debate. With nine Democratic candidates standing on a crowded stage, Andrew Cuomo called into question Zohran Mamdani’s experience in the state Assembly, citing only three bills sponsored by the democratic socialist that were signed into law.

“Donald Trump would go through Mr. Mamdani like a hot knife through butter,” Cuomo said. “He's been in government 27 minutes, he passed three bills. That's all he's done.”

It’s true that during the past four and a half years in the Assembly, only three of his bills got the governor’s signature. But that very short list doesn’t totally encompass his legislative achievements so far.

He often cites a pilot program that removed the fare from several MTA bus lines. That program grew out of a bill Mamdani introduced in 2022 called the “Fix the MTA Act,” a package of proposals that included the phasing out of bus fares across the city. Instead of being passed as a standalone bill, though, the idea was ultimately folded into the MTA’s budget. It was widely considered a success, but Mamdani failed to get the one-year pilot program extended. He chose to take a protest vote against the state budget instead, both Politico New York and New York Magazine reported. (Mamdani denied that it happened that way.)

“I think it's ironic to hear concerns from Andrew Cuomo about my record in Albany,” Mamdani said following the second mayoral debate. “We made one bus route free in each borough, and it was so successful that if you go to Andrew Cuomo's transportation plan, he includes it in his own ideas as to what he would do. So ultimately, you have to judge the efficacy, the success, and those are things that I'm proud of having delivered.”

During the 2023-24 legislative session, Mamdani added his voice to the list of lawmakers who supported the MENA Act. While he wasn’t a primary sponsor of the measure, he touted it as a success that changed the way the state collected certain demographic information for people of North African and Middle Eastern descent, creating a new “MENA” category. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law at the end of 2024.

So far this year, Mamdani sponsored as many as 20 bills that are at various stages of the process. They pertain to a wide range of issues, from the MTA’s budget to bike lanes to a banking bill of rights. As Election Day neared, Assembly Bill A610 was under the spotlight. The "Not on our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli settler violence act" would prohibit not-for-profit corporations from engaging in unauthorized support of Israeli settlement activity.

Here are the three bills Mamdani has successfully passed into law. The Senate versions of all three bills were sponsored by state Sen. Michael Gianaris.

State Administrative Procedure Act A6267

Passed in the Assembly on 06/10/21

Senate version passed on 03/16/21

Signed by then-Gov. Cuomo on 12/28/21

The 2021 Assembly Bill A6267 authorized a three-year pilot for seven  state regulatory agencies to “utilize innovative techniques” during public hearings. The bill was promoted as a way to involve the public more meaningfully in an agency’s rule-making process. The measure made it possible for members of the public to put questions to agency personnel during a hearing. It expanded the format for a public hearing to include a roundtable discussion and permitted hearings to be scheduled on evenings and weekends. 

(A different) State Administrative Procedure Act A8796 

Passed in the Assembly on 02/14/22 

Senate version passed on 01/26/22

Signed by Hochul on 02/24/22

The 2022 Assembly Bill A8796 further amended the State Administrative Procedure Act again to increase public participation in the rulemaking process. The law lowered the threshold for requiring a public hearing from 500 to 125 petitioners for certain agencies. “I am very proud at the opportunity to pass this bill,” Mamdani said while speaking before the Assembly in February of that year. “Residents of my neighborhood, Astoria, Queens, as well as New Yorkers across this entire beautiful state will have a chance that they did not have before, to hold agencies accountable and to get direct access to agency representatives that they have thus far been denied.”  

An amendment to Section 64 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law A7113

Passed in the Assembly on 06/01/23

Senate version passed on 05/31/23

Signed by Hochul on 09/15/2023

This law impacts a very specific demographic: visitors to Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image who want to have a drink. This 2023 measure was written as an amendment to the state’s liquor license laws, specifically in relation to the sale of alcohol at a location across the street from an elementary school. It spells out in great detail where liquor can be consumed at the Museum of the Moving Image. New York’s liquor license laws otherwise prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages within 200 feet of a school.