The Manhattan Times

Jackson bucks Quinn and Yassky, forces a vote on Small Business Survival bill 

City Council Member Robert Jackson has defied the will of Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Small Business Committee Chair David Yassky and become the first member to ever use a procedure called a Motion to Discharge to push a bill out of committee and onto the floor for a full vote.

Jackson had until 5 p.m. on Mon, Nov. 30, to file the motion and accompanying memorandum with the signatures of seven other Council members.

According to advocates of the Small Business Survival bill, Jackson and Quinn met after the Nov. 30 Stated Meeting to discuss a pair of alternative bills that would keep Jackson from filing the motion.

Jackson’s supporters said Quinn’s alternatives essentially stripped Jackson’s bill of its teeth.

The Small Business Survival bill would require landlords to negotiate the renewal of a lease in good faith or face binding arbitration. That system would end the practice of asking for “key money” or money under the table, which many say happens before a landlord will even agree to consider renewing a lease.

Quinn’s alternatives, according to Small Business Survival bill author Steve Null, would have made it a misdemeanor for landlords to ask for key money and required the city to step in to help businesses renegotiate their leases when renewal negotiations stalled.

“[The alternatives] were ridiculous,” Null said. “It doesn’t give any rights to a tenant.”

The motion, which will amount to a de facto vote on the bill itself, will be scheduled to be voted on by the full Council on Dec. 9. Jackson and the bill’s supporters have lined up 30 ayes, enough to pass the bill, although not enough to override a mayoral veto.

Jackson’s motion, Null said, “[Has] never been used before. It’s history. It’s ballsy. It’s courage.”

Ironically, the procedure was initiated by Quinn when she became speaker.

Despite these machinations, if the mayor doesn’t sign it by the end of the year – and he and Quinn have expressed concerns that it would withstand legal challenges – it is likely that the bill will die when a new Council class takes office in 2010.

But just having a vote on a piece of legislation that has been bandied about for 20 years is progress enough to please its supporters, said Null. Jackson has promised to reintroduce the bill next year if it fails over the next few weeks.

Correction:

Speaker Christine Quinn did not initiate the procedure to push a bill to the floor when she became speaker. She did however make it easier to file a Motion to Discharge by requiring fewer signatures from other Council Members.