Int. No. 1079
By Council Members Richards, Adams, Rose, Cumbo, Levin, Ampry-Samuel, Diaz, Miller and Holden
A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to creating an office of inclusion within the New York city taxi and limousine commission
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 65 of the New York city charter is amended by adding a new section 2305 to read as follows:
§ 2305 Office of inclusion. a. Definitions.
Director. The term “director” means the director of the office of inclusion.
Driver. The term “driver” means any driver licensed by the commission.
Office. The term “office” means the office of inclusion.
b. The commission shall establish an office of inclusion. Such office shall be headed by a director.
c. The director shall have the power and duty to:
1. Compile and report statistics relating to driver demographics, disaggregated by ethnicity or race, gender and other categories as appropriate.
2. Compile and report statistics relating to which communities are affected by service refusals.
3. Examine and address issues related to racism and discrimination in the for-hire vehicle industry, including but not limited to refusals by drivers to provide service to passengers or prospective passengers on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation or destination.
4. Develop policies and best practices to ensure greater representation of drivers from members of underserved communities.
5. Develop and implement trainings for drivers addressing anti-discrimination and cultural sensitivity towards passengers and prospective passengers. Such trainings shall include best practices on how drivers can meet the needs of passengers with disabilities.
6. Assess the feasibility of a driver-to-driver mentorship and cultural awareness program and may implement one or more such program as warranted.
7. Promote ways to encourage the equitable treatment of drivers by other drivers.
8. Expand public awareness regarding such refusals by drivers to provide service to passengers or prospective passengers, through means such as, but not limited to, running a public awareness campaign and conducting outreach to community groups whose members have experienced service refusals.
9. Establish one or more mechanisms by which passengers and prospective passengers can submit complaints directly to the commission, and ensure service refusal complaints are processed by the appropriate authorities.
10. Serve as a resource to support the needs of persons with disabilities in receiving services from vehicles licensed by the commission.
11. Any other relevant duties as the commission deems appropriate.
d. Within 12 months of the effective date of the local law that added this section, and annually thereafter, the director shall post on the city’s website and submit to the mayor and the speaker of the council a report containing, at a minimum, the findings required by paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of subdivision c of this section. The report shall also contain information on the programs and resources described in paragraphs 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 of subdivision c of this section, including statistics on how many people utilized these programs and resources.
§ 2. This local law takes effect immediately.
AS
LS # 7849
8/3/18