Restructure NYC Youth Board with Term Limits
Enacted on Oct 26, 2026
Signed into Law
Local Law 2026/076
✦ Plain-Language Summary
This law reduces the NYC Youth Board from 28 to 20 members and adds term limits for board positions. The board will make policy recommendations to help improve youth programs and services, and the city must publicly report on these recommendations and how they respond to them.
The story behind this bill
Why it was introduced
The Youth Board, created to advise the City on youth policy, had 28 mayoral-appointed members with no term limits, and its activities were not publicly described. Sponsors said 28 seats made it hard to have focused discussions, and wanted a clearer process for the city to respond to the board's recommendations.
At the hearings
Committee on Children and Youth · 2026-01-30
The committee heard from DYCD and one advocate. DYCD supported the bill's goals but raised concerns about board size, borough quorum, and losing experienced members; Chair Stevens pushed back and discussed staggered terms as a fix.
In support
- Council Member Stevens (sponsor/chair): 28 members is too many for focused discussion; reducing size and adding term limits will improve engagement.
- Josh Mosby (Girl Vow): Youth voices should be centered in city advisory boards and policymaking.
Raised concerns
- DYCD (Andrew Miller, Assistant Commissioner): Reducing seats and requiring borough representation could make it harder to maintain quorum.
- DYCD (Andrew Miller): Term limits could cause loss of experienced members' institutional knowledge; suggested staggered terms and hold-over language.
City agencies: DYCD said it supports modernizing the board but asked for changes: staggered terms, hold-over provisions, and caution about reducing seats given borough and quorum requirements.
“I know when we were thinking about putting in this bill together, some of it was that 28 seemed like a lot of trying to get people on the same page.”
“We recognize that term limits can benefit the board with new perspectives. We would welcome a discussion about how long the term should be to make sure we have continuity and expertise on the board and strike a balance between bringing in new people while preserving institutional knowledge.”
“I just wanted to reiterate how important it is to keep youth voices at the center of creating solutions that are supposed to affect them.”
Show 1 more hearing
Committee on Children and Youth · 2026-02-24
A brief meeting to vote on the amended bill, Int 448-B. Chair Stevens explained the changes made since January, including staggered terms and a revised board size. The committee approved the bill unanimously with no further testimony.
In support
- Council Member Stevens (sponsor/chair): The amended bill strengthens accountability, transparency, and collaboration between the board and DYCD.
“This bill would impose a two-year term limit on board members, which would stagger it to maintain institutional knowledge across terms.”
How it turned out
The Council approved the amended bill (Int 448-B) 49-1 on February 24, 2026, and sent it to the Mayor. The Mayor returned it unsigned on March 30, 2026, and a City Charter Rule was adopted March 27, 2026. The bill's official status is Enacted.
What changed along the way
- Board size changed from 18 members (28-seat cut proposal) to 20 members, split 10 mayoral and 10 Council-appointed, instead of 14 Council-recommended seats.
- Term limit structure changed to a firm two-term (8-year) cap with staggered, staggered terms instead of a renewable single term.
- Appointment power shifted from the mayor appointing with Council recommendation to the Council Speaker directly appointing half the seats.
- Added requirement that the DYCD Commissioner's annual report include board actions, recommendations, and responses, posted on the agency website.
- Added 'best efforts' language for borough representation instead of a strict one-member-per-borough mandate.
What the record doesn’t say
- The documents do not explain why the Mayor returned the bill unsigned rather than signing or vetoing it with stated reasons.
- The record does not explain why the final enacted version differs from the earlier proposals in overall seat count or appointment split beyond what committee reports describe as amendments.
- The documents do not say why DYCD's specific concerns about quorum and borough representation were or were not addressed in the final staggered-term, 20-member structure.
Sources
- Committee Report 1/30/26
- Fiscal Impact Statement - City Council
- Committee Report 2/11/26
- Committee Report 2/24/26
- Committee Report - Stated Meeting
- Hearing Transcript 2/24/26
- Hearing Transcript 1/30/26
- Proposed Int. No. 448-B - Fiscal Impact Statement - City Council
- Memorandum in Support
- Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 2-24-26
Written by AI from official Council records. Votes and status come from the record; quotes are checked word for word against the official hearing transcripts.
Details
- Introduced
- Jan 29, 2026
- Passed Council
- Mar 27, 2026
- Enacted
- Mar 27, 2026
- Body
- Committee on Children and Youth
- Type
- Introduction
- Status
- Enacted
Sponsors (13)
Official Description
This bill would implement term limits for board members and would reduce the amount of board members from 28 to 20, 10 of whom would be appointed by the Mayor, 10 of whom would be appointed by the Speaker of the City Council. Additionally, the board would be tasked with providing policy recommendations to the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). DYCD would then be required to submit a report to the Mayor and the Speaker of the City Council describing the activities of the board, the recommendations received from the board, and the department’s responses to such recommendations. DYCD would also be required to publicly post information about the youth board’s members, their term lengths, and other information that the commissioner deems relevant.