City Council to Vote on POST Act
Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen) and Councilmember Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx) announced yesterday that the Council will soon be voting on the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act.
The act would require the NYPD to publicly disclose information on the surveillance technology it uses. We already know that the NYPD employs facial recognition technology, license plate readers and cell site simulators, among other tools; however, we have little information on how exactly it uses these tools.
“New Yorkers deserve to know the type of surveillance that the NYPD uses and its impacts on communities,” said Johnson. “Thanks to the POST Act, the department will finally begin disclosing information that has long been kept from the public. I want to thank my friend and colleague Council Member Vanessa Gibson for her leadership and commitment on this police reform bill.”
The vote will take place tomorrow, June 23.
Krueger to Host Town Hall on Criminal Justice Reform
State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Upper East Side, Lenox Hill) will be hosting a virtual town hall tomorrow on criminal justice reform in New York.
The town hall will cover the details of recent reform bills passed in the State, and the need for continued advocacy. Krueger will join State Senators Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) and Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx), along with representatives from the Vera Institute for Justice and the Brooklyn Movement Center.
The event will take place tomorrow from 5-6:30 p.m. at facebook.com/statesenatorlizkrueger. To register, click here.
Maloney Praises House Leaders for Bringing D.C. Statehood Bill to Floor
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens) released a statement yesterday after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that the Washington D.C. Admission Act will be brought to the House floor next week.
The bill, introduced in 2019, would bring Washington, D.C. into the Union as a state, with borders encompassing most of the present-day District of Columbia.
“Our country is one of the only democratic nations on Earth that still denies voting rights to the residents of its capital city,” said Maloney. “As millions of Americans cry out for equality under the law, I urge my colleagues to correct this historic wrong and support this landmark legislation to give basic human rights to the disenfranchised citizens of the District of Columbia.”
Nadler Subpoenas Two DOJ Whistleblowers
Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) issued two subpoenas for testimony from Department of Justice (DOJ) whistleblowers.
The whistleblowers in question are DOJ employees John W. Elias and Aaron S.J. Zelinsky, the latter of whom resigned from the Roger Stone case after the Justice Department intervened to give him a lighter sentence. They will testify on Attorney General William Barr’s (R) politicization of the Department.
“The Attorney General—who cites his busy schedule as a basis for refusing to appear before the House Judiciary Committee but has made time for multiple television interviews—may have abdicated his responsibility to Congress, but the brave men and women of our civil service have not,” Nadler said in a statement. “The Committee welcomes the testimony of current and former Department officials who will speak to the lasting damage the President and the Attorney General have inflicted on the Department of Justice.”
