The city council is the legislative branch of New York City government, passing laws and enacting regulations. It serves as a check against the mayor in the mayor-council government model, oversees various city agencies, and has sole responsibility for approving the budget. Members are elected from 51 district-based seats and serve four-year terms.

Most of the legislative work of the council occurs in committees, which are formed by a vote of the full membership to explore specific aspects of municipal business and report back to the body as a whole. The council also has ad hoc task forces or groups that take on one-time projects.

This truncated two-year session has already seen 231 bills passed, according to the speaker’s office. Council members have been focusing on issues that touch residents across the five boroughs, like passing bills to make affordable child care more accessible and securing funding in the budget to help former CUNY students complete their degrees.

As in other American cities, the council operates as a nonpartisan chamber, but its members can join caucuses to identify with shared concerns. There are currently seven, including the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus; the Common Sense Caucus; the Jewish Caucus; the LGBTQ Caucus; and the Women’s Caucus. Council Members are also assigned — through a voting process based on their districts — to chair certain committees and subcommittees.