NYC Council overrides 17 Adams vetoes, record seen as rebuke to former mayor

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Jan 29, 2026

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The New York City Council Thursday overturned a record 17 vetoes left over from the final days on the Adams administration, including measures that would lift the cap on street vending licenses, prohibit ICE from having an office on Rikers Island and extend the lookback window for lawsuits filed under the city’s gender-motivated violence law.

The Council voted overwhelmingly to override 17 of a total 20 bills the former mayor tried to ax on his way out — more overrides in one day than in the entire last decade combined, Speaker Julie Menin said.

“That fact alone should underscore how seriously we are approaching this moment,” Menin said at a press conference ahead of the votes. “These overrides reflect legislation that has been debated, thoroughly refined carefully and supported by a clear supermajority of elected representatives from across the city.”

The deluge of overrides was seen as a rebuke to former Mayor Eric Adams, who was frequently at odds with the former council lead by former speaker Adrienne Adams.

“The City Council has the authority to override vetoes just as the mayor has the authority to issue them,” Todd Shapiro, a spokesperson for Eric Adams. “While Mayor Adams disagrees with the decision to override his vetoes, he respects the City Charter that grants both powers.”

Spokespeople for Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Three vetos were not overturned: The Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, or COPA, which would give nonprofits and local housing preservation groups first dibs on purchasing distressed apartment buildings; a bill that would require a minimum percentage of all newly built affordable housing financed by the city to have two or three bedrooms; and a bill that would give the Civilian Complaint Review Board direct access to bodycam footage instead of having to go through the NYPD.

Menin said that the Council didn’t pursue bills it couldn’t get the votes to override.

“Overrides require supermajority, and when that threshold was not met, the council is respecting the process, because that is how responsible governance works,” she said.

The language of the gender violence law had sparked broad debate.

During the initial lookback window, hundreds of adults who were incarcerated in juvenile detention centers brought claims against the city for allegedly enabling sexual abuse they endured as children. But a Bronx judge dismissed the lawsuits last summer, deciding they were not covered by the legislation as it was written — prompting the Council to tweak the law last November and reopen the window.

Adams vetoed the amendments on Christmas Eve, claiming they amounted to “effectively a debit card” for the law firm representing the vast majority of the former detainees.

“The survivors we represent are grateful that the City Council has taken this action for survivors,” Jerome Block, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said in a statement, “and to reaffirm that institutional sexual violence will not be tolerated in New York City.”

Another of the bills the council voted through on Thursday was a bill meant to offer “just cause” protection drivers for rideshare apps like Lyft and Uber. The bill makes it illegal for the rideshare giants to fire drivers without just cause, and provides drivers with a way to appeal their dismissal.

“No longer can Uber and Lyft hold the fear of unfair firings over the heads of almost 100,000 drivers in New York City,” Council Member Shekar Krishnan, the bill’s prime sponsor, said in a statement following the override vote.

The override was welcomed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which lobbied for its initial passing — though the Uber union, the Independent Driver’s Guild, which opposed the bill, vowed his group would push to modify the law, which is set to go into effect in July, through future legislation.

The overrides also included a measure making it easier for food cart vendors to operate legally.

“Past mayor notwithstanding, we are ushering in a new era for how the city treats its smallest businesses and manages shared public space,” Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, who sponsored the bill that would increase the cap for food cart vendors, said at Thursday’s press conference.

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(With Cayla Bamberger and Evan Simko-Bednarski.)

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