BILL NUMBER: S8215
SPONSOR: GIANARIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the
emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, in relation to
the composition of rent guidelines boards, and the factors to be consid-
ered in establishing annual rent adjustments; and to repeal certain
provisions of the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-
four relating to rent guidelines boards in counties
 
PURPOSE:
To restructure the NYC Rent Guidelines Board, as well as municipal RGBs
across the state, to make them more independent, transparent, and
accountable to the needs of local residents.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill is the short title, the Rent Guidelines Board
Reform Act.
Section two of the bill amends § 26-510 of the administrative code of
the city of New York to make structural changes to the New York City
Rent Guidelines Board. It would reduce the total number of board members
from nine to seven and require each member nominated by the mayor to be
confirmed by a vote of the City Council within 30 days of each nomi-
nation.
Section two of the bill further amends the administrative code to make
methodological changes to the functions of the NYC RGB. The Board would
be required to consider additional factors when determining whether to
make rent adjustments, and it would discontinue the use of the Price
Index of Operating Costs, which focuses on one side of the profit
equation - costs - while ignoring the other side - incomes. This
section would also require all owners of rent-stabilized or rent-cont-
rolled housing to annually submit income and expenditure reports to the
Board. Owners who fail to submit such reports would be subject to fines
and barred from collecting rent adjustments for twelve months. The Board
would also require a sample of landlords subject to this law to make
their books and records available for an audit.
Section two of the bill would move the deadline for the NYC RGB's annual
vote from July 1 to November 1 and move the start of the "guidelines
year" from October 1 to March 1 of the following year. It would also
require the Board to hold public hearings in each of the five NYC
boroughs, as well as an additional hearing that accepts virtual testimo-
ny.
Section three of the bill would make equivalent structural changes to
RGBs outside of New York City. Under this section, municipal legisla-
tures would be tasked with appointing board members.
Section four of the bill repeals a subdivision of the ETPA that current-
ly provides for a municipal RGB to morph into a county RGB if a second
municipality within the same county opts into ETPA. Repealing this
subdivision would allow each municipality that opts into ETPA to estab-
lish and maintain its own municipal RGB.
Section five would make equivalent methodological changes to RGBs
outside of NYC. Section six provides a separability clause.
Section seven relates to the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Rent Guidelines Boards (RGBs) play a critical role in New York's rent
stabilization system: every year, they adjust rents for over two million
rent-stabilized tenants. In theory, these boards are supposed to set
reasonable rent adjustments every year after properly weighing the
interests of both owners and tenants. Under existing law, however, RGBs
tend to rely on metrics that overestimate landlord costs while ignoring
other relevant factors like landlord profitability and tenant afforda-
bility, resulting in rent adjustments that skew disproportionately
against low-income tenants. Aside from faulty analysis, RGBs also suffer
from a troubling lack of independence and transparency. The New York
City Rent Guidelines Board is particularly insular, as all of its
members are appointed solely by the Mayor. Also, the Board is only obli-
gated to hold one public hearing under current law, despite setting rent
adjustments for around one million rent-stabilized apartments.
This bill would, thus, reform RGBs across the state to make them more
accountable to the needs of their local residents. It would give local
legislatures greater oversight over board members, make public hearings
more accessible, and require RGBs to consider more relevant economic
data. With these changes, New Yorkers can have greater confidence in
their local RGB and in the rent stabilization system in general.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the
amendments to section 26510 of the rent stabilization law of nineteen
hundred sixty-nine made by section one of this act shall expire on the
same date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration of
such law as provided under section 26-520 of such law.