NYC Council Members Want Better Access to City Laws

Residents of the Big Apple will have an easier time finding New York City’s laws online, under new legislation proposed by a handful of city council members.

Int. 149 requires New York City to post a complete copy of its city charter, administrative code and official rules on NYC.gov, Gotham’s official website. The data must be presented in a searchable format and updated regularly.

Sponsored by Council Member Brad Lander, who represents the 39th Council District in Brooklyn, the bill is a response to concerns that finding municipal laws are some of the most difficult civic information to find online.

For years state governments have partnered with publishers to update and sift through their jumble of constantly changing legal codes, charging fees for any annotations, section titles, chapter summaries -- and almost every alteration to make the texts coherent and digestible. But activists and civic hackers have argued that citizens are entitled to all law -- however it’s packaged.